REUTERS - Renault has followed the "usual process" by maintaining secrecy for several months on the internal investigation that led him to dismiss three of its officers suspected of espionage on its electric car program, said Carlos Ghosn, the CEO, in an interview published in the Sunday newspaper.
The prosecution announced January 14 the opening of a preliminary police investigation on this issue.Renault had filed a complaint against X for the day "for acts that constitute industrial espionage, bribery, embezzlement, theft and handling stolen goods, committed by an organized gang."
Ghosn aware since August 2010
If the first public information about the suspicions of the group date from the early, early internal warnings date back nearly five months.
"In late August, the ethics group, Christian Husson, who is also our general counsel, and the boss of Renault's safety came to see me," said Carlos Ghosn in the interview with JDD."They have shared information of very high concern about the integrity of some of our senior staff."
Asked to explain the reasons which led the group to keep the information confidential, he said that "Renault has very specific procedures for such cases.""I decided that the usual process would be used," he adds.
He refused to specify if Renault has used a private investigator to conduct its own investigations.
"Everything we have is now in the hands of justice," says he.
"We were unbeatable"
"It is not for me to go here into details of what we did. But we were blameless in relation to the law," he says.
"An investigation services spy-cons has been open since last week. I repeat, they have all the elements.Today, we expect that justice do its job, "he says.
The three officers covered by the suspicions of Renault, laid off at first, were dismissed. They have since announced the filing of a complaint for malicious prosecution or defamation case to case.
"His target is our strategy in the electric car", explains Carlos Ghosn in the Sunday newspaper. "We launched in 2006 in the most total skepticism.Today, we are the only ones in the world to manufacture both the battery, motors and chargers, to produce the whole system. "
"When a manufacturer is in technological advance, do not be naïve, ca lot of people interested."
He stated that the leaks do not correspond to information "technology" but it could be information on the "economic model" Renault's electric.
Carlos Ghosn assurance that it had "no doubt" the identity of the recipient of such information.
"We await the results of the investigation which I'm told it should last several months," he said.
