Investigators question Renault staff on spying claims

PanARMENIAN.Net - Investigators questioned three security staff of French car maker Renault in the latest twist of a case that started with explosive spying claims, an official said March 13, citing suspected fraud.

"In the course of the investigation, certain things have come to light that suggest a possible fraud by an organized gang," said the judicial official, who asked not be named, AFP reports.

Two people were detained on March 11 and one on March 12 for questioning in the affair, which began with allegations of industrial espionage focusing on Renault's new electric car technology.

Two of them were later released without charge and the third, Dominique Gevrey, was sent before a judge who would decide whether he will face charges as part of investigations into suspected fraud, the official said.

Claims of industrial espionage rocked Renault in January when three top managers were fired after an internal investigation. The people detained this weekend were questioned about that probe, the judicial official said.

The French government had branded the affair "economic warfare" and some pointed the finger at China, drawing an angry denial from Beijing.

But the scandal fizzled out when a source close to investigations said this month that the claims had led nowhere. The source said police had found no trace of Swiss bank accounts that the accused men were alleged to have held.

The company's lawyer Jean Reinhart said last week that an unnamed informer behind the allegations was paid a quarter of a million euros ($350,000) by an investigator working with Renault.

Reinhart declined to comment on the latest investigations. The judicial official said two of the men detained had refused to reveal the source of the allegations.