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Ikea execs charged in French spying scandal

The CEO of Ikea in France and two other top executives were charged on Tuesday in connection with suspicions the French branch of the Swedish home furnishings giant illegally used police files to spy on staff and customers.

Ikea execs charged in French spying scandal
"We used to be proud of Ikea...Now all we feel is shame" one Ikea customer said in the wake of the scandal. File photo: The Local
Ikea France's CEO Stefan Vanoverbeke, CFO Dariusz Rychert and the company's former CEO, Jean-Louis Baillot, were charged with "complicity to collect personal data" and "complicity to violate professional secrecy", a judicial source told AFP.
 
All three were formally held for questioning by police in Versailles, near Paris, on Monday.
 
The charges follow police seizures at Ikea France's headquarters in the Paris suburbs earlier this month.
 
A spokeswoman for Ikea France, the Swedish furniture giant's local subsidiary, said the firm was aware of the latest developments.
 
"The company will continue to assist the establishment of the truth," she said.
 
Chief executive Vanoverbeke's lawyer said his client denied the charges.
 
"My client totally disputes his involvement in this matter. He's calmly awaiting the next steps in the process," said attorney Alexis Gublin.
 
Ikea France was itself on Tuesday charged as a legal entity and ordered to pay a deposit of €500,000 ($670,000) to secure possible compensation for the civil parties in the case, according to the same judicial source.
 
The Versailles prosecutors' office declined to comment on the report.
 
Prosecutors launched a criminal probe in April 2012 following allegations that Ikea France paid for illegal access to secret police files to gain information about employees and clients, including about their court and police records and bank accounts. A Swedish couple living in France also took legal action to force Ikea to admit to the practices.
 
"We are Swedish. We used to be proud of Ikea and Kamprad," Swede Pascal Denize told The Local at the time in reference to Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad.

"We used to toot their horn, defend their products. Now all we feel is shame”.

Keen to repair its reputation, Ikea France subsequently fired four employees, launched an internal inquiry and established a code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the scandal.
 
Several people had already been charged in connection with the case, including Ikea France's former risk management head Jean-Francois Paris.
 
Four civilian police employees have also been charged and are suspected of selling confidential police files to Ikea France.
 
Media reports have said sources were paid about 80 euros in each case to hand over files from the police STIC file system, which tracks millions of names and personal information about criminals, victims and even witnesses.
 
Reports alleged Ikea France requested information on its own employees, including union members, the owners of certain car registrations and names associated with a list of mobile phone numbers.
 
In one case the company allegedly asked for personal information on a customer who was suing it for €4,000.
 
The judicial probe in Versailles was opened after a complaint was filed by labour unions.
 
The company has 29 stores and 9,300 employees in France.
 

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POLITICS

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.

They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of farmers’ protests?

“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.

The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.

The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.

READ ALSO 5 minutes to understand French farmer protests

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.

The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.

The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.

The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.

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