France’s prosecutor’s office in Versailles push forward with trial of 15 people connected to alleged spying on IKEA staff

Ikea store in Marineda City, Spain

15 people on trial after alleged spying in IKEA Photo Credit Soniadcm, Wikipedia

France’s prosecutor’s office in Versailles push forward with trial of 15 people connected to alleged spying on IKEA staff.

FRENCH prosecutors have announced that 15 people including former executives of IKEA in France and police officials are to go on trial for the alleged charges of spying on employees and customers. The company has 34 stores in France and employs 10,000 people.

Two former IKEA France CEOs are among those charged in a case dating back to 2012 when the home furnishings firm was accused of paying for illegal access to police files.

The Swedish-based company is alleged to have paid police for information on workers involved with labour unions and clients with whom it was involved in disputes. Prosecutors say the French unit bought access to court and police records and bank details. The information was allegedly taken from France’s police records system, which tracks the names and personal information of criminals, victims and witnesses.

Four police officials are also among the 15 people charged, along with the former IKEA France chiefs Jean-Louis Baillot and Stefan Vanoverbeke and the former CFO Dariusz Rychert.

On Thursday, the prosecutor’s office in Versailles, outside Paris, decided there was enough evidence to hold a trial.

In the wake of the allegations, Ikea France fired four employees, opened an internal inquiry and established a code of conduct.

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