RENAULT HAS publicly apologised to three executives it accused of espionage after the Paris prosecutor said there was no evidence against them and the company appeared to have been the victim of a hoax.
Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said an investigation had found that bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein that allegedly belonged to the trio did not exist.
“It seems Renault was perhaps not the victim of dishonest employees but ... of con artists,” Mr Marin told a press conference yesterday.
The revelation comes as a huge embarrassment to the company, which sacked the three executives in January and lodged a complaint over suspicions that spies had targeted its high-profile electric vehicle programme.
When the spy claims became public, government sources anonymously suggested possible Chinese involvement, provoking sharp denials from Beijing. Industry minister Eric Besson spoke at the time of “economic warfare”.
Within hours of the prosecutor’s comments, Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn and chief operating officer Patrick Pélata apologised to the three men and pledged to repair the injustice against them.
Mr Pélata acknowledged recently that his job would be at risk if the spying allegations did not hold up, and the fate of senior management figures was expected to be discussed at an emergency board meeting last night.
The circumstances behind the spying allegations have not been made public, but Mr Marin revealed that Renault had already paid €310,000 for false information in relation to the case, while a security manager at the company was placed under investigation on Sunday for suspected fraud.
The controversy is bound to strain relations between Renault and the French government, which owns 15 per cent of the company. Ministers were already furious with Renault for not informing the authorities of its suspicions soon enough and deciding to carry out its own investigation before alerting French intelligence.
When Mr Pélata recently admitted that the company had doubts about its original claims, French finance minister Christine Lagarde said Renault must face “all the consequences”.
“One shouldn’t shoot without a sight or accuse without proof,” she said.
Renault is now expected to offer compensation to the three sacked managers, who always maintained their innocence.
A lawyer for one of the men, Matthieu Tenenbaum, told Agence France Presse his client was ready to meet Mr Ghosn and to study any proposals from the company. “It’s the end of a real nightmare for my client,” the lawyer said.