ESPIONAGE ... !!! * France - ... at Renault

Patrick Pélata, CEO: "Renault faced an organised system of collecting economic, technological and strategic information to serve interests situated abroad ... it’s the work of professionals”

Lyon,France -Fleet Europe, by Tim Harrup -7 Jan 2011: -- Renault has announced that it has suspended three of its managers within an industrial espionage context. It believes that company secrets involving the development of its electric cars have been leaked. The three persons involved are said by Senior Vice President, Christian Hutton, to occupy strategic positions, and to have ‘knowingly and deliberately placed at risk the company’s assets'. Renault is evaluating its options for proceeding with this matter... (Photo from treehugger: A robot painting at one Renault's factory)

* France - Renault to file charges over secrets leak

Paris,France -FT (UK), by Scheherazade Daneshkhu -January 9 2011: -- Renault says a spy network has stolen secrets relating to electric vehicles but the French government has shied away from pointing the finger at China... The French carmaker will file charges this week, possibly on Tuesday, against three executives suspended a week ago on suspicion of passing on secrets about its sensitive electric vehicle programme... Renault refused to comment on Sunday whether the interests were national or corporate and what action it would be taking against the spy network... Suspicion has fallen on Chinese companies as the likely recipients of the information but Eric Besson, industry minister who described the Renault affair as “economic warfare” refused to point the finger at China... The three executives, one of whom sits on Renault’s management committee, headed by Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, have been summoned by Renault for an interview on Tuesday when their fate is likely to be made known... Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer for Matthieu Tenenbaum, one of the suspended executives, said he deplored the “lynching” of his client...