Renault Apologizes to 3 Fired Executives Wrongly Accused of Selling Company Secrets

VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
March 15, 2011 at 2:20 am

The head of France's Renault car company is apologizing to three fired executives wrongly accused of selling company secrets to China.

Renault's chief executive officer Carlos Ghosen promised Monday to make reparations to the three and restore their honor in the eyes of the world.

French police have charged a former military intelligence official-turned-Renault security agent, Dominique Garvey, on suspicion of inventing the claims against the three.

Renault suspects the agent of trying to con the car company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to carry out an internal investigation into the alleged spying.

Renault fired the three executives in January because of allegations of selling electric car secrets to China and depositing the money in bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

French police became suspicious when they could find no such accounts.

Some French officials accused China of being involved in industrial warfare — a charge China fiercely denied.