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PARIS - Police probing alleged industrial espionage at French car giant Renault said Thursday they had drawn a blank, as a case Paris once branded evidence of "economic warfare" appeared set to fizzle out.
Intelligence officers had been "astonished" by the weakness of the evidence Renault presented against three of its executives sacked over claims they had leaked company secrets, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Police have found no trace of Swiss bank accounts the accused men were alleged to have held, he added, suggesting that Renault's internal inquiry could have been fed false account numbers by squabbling managers.
A source close to the Liechtenstein police's probe into the case said that the bank accounts said to he held there by the trio did not exist either.
"Apparently, the information was wrong. The investigation led to no results," said the Liechtenstein official.
The head of France's DCRI police intelligence service, Bernard Squarcini, criticised the leaks, insisting that the industrial espionage inquiry was ongoing and that the results would only be given to prosecutors.
In January, Renault sacked three senior managers over alleged industrial espionage and launched legal action against them. The trio have denied the allegations and have hit back with lawsuits for defamation.
"RENAULT DRAGGED ME IN THE MUD"
The accused - Bertrand Rochette, Matthieu Tenenbaum and Michel Balthazard - expressed relief at the apparent collapse in the case against of them, but demanded Renault pay them damages for slander and false dismissal.
"Renault dragged me in the mud and denounced me in front of the whole world. It's clearly something that can not easily be fixed," Rochette told RTL radio.
Renault had suggested the executives had sold pricing data on the firm's future electric car models - which are key to the French giant's strategy, based on an enormous investment in as yet unproven technology.
When the scandal erupted, the French government sounded an alarm, warning of "economic warfare", amid press reports accusing China of paying off European executives for trade and technology secrets.
China denied any involvement.
A former police detective working for Renault's internal security service gave the DCRI police intelligence agency the details of his internal inquiry, but the serving officers were unimpressed, the police source told AFP.
Investigators quickly began to doubt that what had happened amounted to industrial espionage, he said. It appeared to relate to a simple internal dispute that might be dealt with by an industrial tribunal, he added.
BRIBERY
The three executives were sacked after Renault received anonymous letters accusing them.
An internal inquiry accused them of receiving bribes of R483 053 to R579 664 in numbered Swiss bank accounts for the allegedly leaked company data, but these alleged accounts have not been traced, the source said.
When the DCRI team - "astonished by the weakness of the case" - asked the Renault security official for more evidence he refused to reply, which they found "strange, coming from a former criminal investigator".
Since the initial buzz generated by the scandal has died, doubts have been increasing about the quality of Renault's evidence, with magistrates and state officials critical of its level of cooperation with the police inquiry.
On Monday, Renault's number two director Patrick Pelata visited Prime Minister Francois Fillon's office to discuss the inquiry.
Press reports afterwards said he had admitted the firm was probably the victim of a "manipulation" linked to internal score-settling. Renault refused to comment on Thursday, but its laywer denied the case had been disproved.
"I reject totally this term 'manipulation'," Jean Reinhart told Europe 1 radio. "We are not looking at something like that. For the moment we have no information that shows that the initial thesis, that of spying, is false."
Intelligence officers had been "astonished" by the weakness of the evidence Renault presented against three of its executives sacked over claims they had leaked company secrets, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Police have found no trace of Swiss bank accounts the accused men were alleged to have held, he added, suggesting that Renault's internal inquiry could have been fed false account numbers by squabbling managers.
A source close to the Liechtenstein police's probe into the case said that the bank accounts said to he held there by the trio did not exist either.
"Apparently, the information was wrong. The investigation led to no results," said the Liechtenstein official.
The head of France's DCRI police intelligence service, Bernard Squarcini, criticised the leaks, insisting that the industrial espionage inquiry was ongoing and that the results would only be given to prosecutors.
In January, Renault sacked three senior managers over alleged industrial espionage and launched legal action against them. The trio have denied the allegations and have hit back with lawsuits for defamation.
"RENAULT DRAGGED ME IN THE MUD"
The accused - Bertrand Rochette, Matthieu Tenenbaum and Michel Balthazard - expressed relief at the apparent collapse in the case against of them, but demanded Renault pay them damages for slander and false dismissal.
"Renault dragged me in the mud and denounced me in front of the whole world. It's clearly something that can not easily be fixed," Rochette told RTL radio.
Renault had suggested the executives had sold pricing data on the firm's future electric car models - which are key to the French giant's strategy, based on an enormous investment in as yet unproven technology.
When the scandal erupted, the French government sounded an alarm, warning of "economic warfare", amid press reports accusing China of paying off European executives for trade and technology secrets.
China denied any involvement.
A former police detective working for Renault's internal security service gave the DCRI police intelligence agency the details of his internal inquiry, but the serving officers were unimpressed, the police source told AFP.
Investigators quickly began to doubt that what had happened amounted to industrial espionage, he said. It appeared to relate to a simple internal dispute that might be dealt with by an industrial tribunal, he added.
BRIBERY
The three executives were sacked after Renault received anonymous letters accusing them.
An internal inquiry accused them of receiving bribes of R483 053 to R579 664 in numbered Swiss bank accounts for the allegedly leaked company data, but these alleged accounts have not been traced, the source said.
When the DCRI team - "astonished by the weakness of the case" - asked the Renault security official for more evidence he refused to reply, which they found "strange, coming from a former criminal investigator".
Since the initial buzz generated by the scandal has died, doubts have been increasing about the quality of Renault's evidence, with magistrates and state officials critical of its level of cooperation with the police inquiry.
On Monday, Renault's number two director Patrick Pelata visited Prime Minister Francois Fillon's office to discuss the inquiry.
Press reports afterwards said he had admitted the firm was probably the victim of a "manipulation" linked to internal score-settling. Renault refused to comment on Thursday, but its laywer denied the case had been disproved.
"I reject totally this term 'manipulation'," Jean Reinhart told Europe 1 radio. "We are not looking at something like that. For the moment we have no information that shows that the initial thesis, that of spying, is false."