Importing a mesh made in 2.49 into 2.59 changs the material's color!

When I import a mesh made in 2.49 into 2.59 the material’s color change into a lighter one, like red turns into pink, the hex value actually changes.
Material is a simple new martial with nothing changed expect color and shadeless option turned on.
There is no nod or anything else turned on.

If I open the file instead of importing the mesh this does not happen.

There’s something called gamma correction in blender, is this because of that? If so how can I turn it off?

Yes, it’s the color/gamma correction. You can disable it in Properties -> Render -> Shading. It’s called Color Management