One of the Renault executives allegedly connected with an industrial espionage case is believed to have submitted a defamation complaint as the spying case gathers momenetum in France.
Renault is declining to comment on the latest developments that have seen one of the executives supposedly involved – Bertrand Rochette – make public his feelings again on French radio station RTL.
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The French automaker has been at pains not to name any of the three senior executives potentially involved, recently filing a complaint against “persons unknown, for acts constituting organised industrial espionage, corruption, breach of trust, theft and concealment.”
Speculation broadcast on French airwaves says Renault has hired a private detective who has been leading the investigation with two members of the manufacturer’s security staff.
The same programme says Rochette speaks of “expeditious and disorderly methods,” while adding Renault has asked him about supposed Swiss bank accounts without providing any proof.
Widespread reports said Rochette has hired high-profile French lawyer Christian Charriere-Bournazel, who is believed at one point to have acted for French trader Jerome Kerviel in the recent Societe Generale case.
“There was a wall of certainty concerning my guilt – I have never been able to obtain concrete elements,” Rochette said in his broadcast.
“When they spoke to me about Swiss accounts, I immediately said I was ready to go to Switzerland – I don’t believe in this Swiss accounts story.”
French Secretary of State for Industry Christine Lagarde has also today (19 January) cast doubts on any Chinese connection with the Renault affair.
Speculation has swirled around a potential Chinese connection with the matter, but Lagarde is quoted by US media as saying: “I really don’t think the Renault case has a Chinese angle.”
Just to add to the mix, the hints that French secret service DCRI may be involved with the matter continue to bubble away.
Neither Charriere-Bournazel nor the Tribunal de police de Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), which is believed to have received the defamation complaint, were immediately available for comment when contacted by just-auto, although further details may become available later today.
