The trial of the French subsidiary of Ikea, accused of having set up an illegal surveillance system for some of its employees, in particular trade unionists, began on Monday March 22 in the morning before the criminal court of Versailles (Yvelines).

On the bench of defendants there is a curious mix of genres: former leaders of Ikea France but also police officers and the boss of a private surveillance company.

Revealed by the Canard Enchaîné and Mediapart in 2012, the case investigated after a complaint from the FO union had shaken Ikea France, forced to dismiss four senior officials.

The investigation thus unveiled, in the words of the Versailles prosecutor's office, a "spy system" of employees but also of candidates for employment, extending throughout the country, from Avignon to Reims, passing through Île-de-France. 

According to the prosecution, several hundred people including trade unionists have been scrutinized, their criminal record or their lifestyle scrupulously examined.

"Severe sanctions will have to be pronounced in order to dissuade companies from spying on their employees and union representatives in the future" #IKEA pic.twitter.com/5vyZxymHJG

- The CGT (@lacgtcommunique) March 20, 2021

But for some defense lawyers, the investigation contains many weaknesses.

Me Olivier Baratelli, counsel to the former HRD Claire Héry, indicated that he would plead the nullity of the file, denouncing a "fable assembled from scratch by unions".

In this trial which is to last until April 2, the French subsidiary of Ikea (10,000 employees), sued as a legal person, incurs a fine of up to 3.75 million euros.

Fifteen accused and 74 civil parties 

Fifteen natural persons will also be tried, including store managers, police officers but also the former CEO Stefan Vanoverbeke (2010-2015) and his predecessor Jean-Louis Baillot. 

Solicited, the lawyer of the first did not want to speak.

That of the second, Me François Saint-Pierre, assured AFP that his client would be present at the hearing and "wanted to explain himself in court".

Faced with the 74 civil parties, the defendants will have to answer in particular for the counts of illicit collection and disclosure of personal information, violation of professional secrecy or even concealment of these offenses, which exposes some of them to a maximum penalty of ten. years of imprisonment.

If the defendants appear for facts covering the period 2009-2012, these practices date back to the early 2000s according to the prosecution.

At the heart of this "system", Jean-François Paris, former director of risk management at Ikea France.

According to the instruction order consulted by AFP, Jean-François Paris sent lists of people "to be tested" to private investigation companies to which the subsidiary allocated a budget of 30,000 to 600,000 euros per year.

Contacted, his lawyer did not wish to speak.

Suspected employee listing 

These lists, which the former manager claims to have received from store managers, were notably addressed to Jean-Pierre Foures, manager of the company in "business consulting" Eirpace, who also did not wish to speak in upstream of the trial.

Jean-Pierre Foures is notably accused of having had recourse to STIC (system for processing the infringements noted) to obtain this confidential data, through the police.

The four police officers involved all assured during the investigation that they had not received any financial compensation.

The lawyer for one of them, Me Hervé Lehman, told AFP a simple "imprudence".

In front of the investigators, Jean-François Paris defended himself to have "fled" the personnel of the company, by assuring to have followed a generalized instruction of Jean-Louis Baillot, assertions that the former director disputes.

Sweeping aside the accusations of "espionage", the council of Ikea France, Me Emmanuel Daoud, rather evokes "organizational weaknesses" of the company and underlines, following the revelations by the press, the implementation of the "action plan "adopted by the company in 2012 including in particular" a complete overhaul of the recruitment process for the opening of new stores ".

With AFP

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