Intelsat

A stranded $150-million satellite was brought to life by remote control and successfully boosted into a higher, long-term orbit today, giving engineers time to determine if a shuttle rescue mission is feasible. Dean Burch, director general of the 118-nation International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, owner of the Intelsat 6 spacecraft, said today the errant relay station is no longer in any immediate danger of a fiery plunge back into Earth's atmosphere.

A second former high-ranking official of Intelsat pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court Friday as part of a 2-year-old investigation of an "insider" scheme that allegedly bilked the international satellite communications agency out of $4.8 million. Jose L. Alegrett of Venezuela, the agency's former deputy director general, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell. Gets 6-Year Prison Term His former boss, one-time Director General Richard R.

An internal investigation by Hughes Aircraft of its satellite contracts with Intelsat is looking into whether fees paid to some Hughes consultants in South America were diverted to former Intelsat Deputy Director Jose L. Alegrett, according to former Hughes Vice President Paul Visher. A federal grand jury investigating the payments has subpoenaed Hughes Aircraft records relating to satellite marketing consultants, Visher said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

Hughes Aircraft Chairman Albert D. Wheelon abruptly retired Thursday, citing unexplained "personal reasons." Wheelon's retirement from Hughes, a General Motors subsidiary based in Los Angeles, came at a hastily called meeting of Hughes Aircraft directors at GM headquarters in Detroit. The nine-member Hughes Aircraft board, controlled by GM executives, elected Hughes veteran Malcolm R. Currie as the new chairman.

The former chief executive officer of Intelsat and two others pleaded guilty today to conspiring in a scheme to obtain $4.8 million in illegal kickbacks. Richard Colino, 51, the former director general of the company, International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, pleaded guilty to one felony count of interstate transportation of money taken by fraud. Prosecutors said Colino's plea involved a scheme in which he and others fraudulently obtained about $4.

Two top officers of Intelsat, the 112-member communications satellite consortium, were fired Thursday, two weeks after outside auditors found $1.35 million in questionable transactions. Company spokesman Robert D. Leahy said the board of governors voted unanimously at a late-night executive session to fire Richard R. Colino, the director general, and Jose L. Alegrett, his assistant for business affairs.

Reports said that questions were raised by Intelsat's auditors, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., involving transactions associated with the organization's new Washington headquarters. The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization announced that Director General Richard Colino and Deputy Director General for Business Planning Jose Alegrett were put on administrative leave pending an investigation of the matter.

Intelsat, the 112-member communications satellite consortium, placed its director general and his assistant for business affairs on forced leave today while its board of governors decides what to do about questionable transactions discovered during a routine audit. Director General Richard R. Colino and deputy director for business planning and external relations Jose L. Alegrett were told Sunday that they were not to come back to work until the investigation is complete. Robert D.

The 112-nation communications cooperative decided to book the European Ariane rocket to launch three satellites because future commercial payload launches from the U.S. space shuttle are in doubt. Intelsat had originally planned to launch a series of five satellites from the shuttle. The organization's board of directors approved buying an Ariane launch for the third Intelsat 6 satellite.