FRANKFURT, (Reuters) – Christian Friege was the chief executive at German photo service provider Cewe. He obstructed diversity by appointing a female board member to his board, according to the board of trustees.

This announcement was made in a strange and harshly phrased statement, which sought to clarify the March decision not to re-appoint Friege due to unspecified divergent opinions regarding corporate management.

Friday’s statement stated that “Christian Friege failed to acknowledge and implement the important social and internal issue of women on Board of Management” and other managerial functions.

According to the statement, Friege was not supportive of diversity or the process for naming a woman on the board.

Friege failed to respond to both an email and a LinkedIn request for comment.

CEWE spokeswoman said Friege does not make appointment to management boards and four women have been promoted in recent years to senior leadership positions.

Friege was described by the trustees in Friday’s statement as working at the German small cap company “acceptable to excellent” overall. However, nearly two thirds of them were not convinced that Friege deserved the trust necessary for reappointment.