Nine years after the French media revealed the suspected crime, the trial against the company's French branch begins when former top managers, employees and four police officers are brought to trial in Versailles.

Several of the former top executives risk imprisonment for up to ten years for having collected information on hundreds of employees over a three-year period.

This includes a manager who, according to the prosecutor, must have repeatedly sent lists of employees 'names to private detectives to find out information concerning employees' privacy.

Sent information to police database

The indictment concerns the illegal collection of information.

In one case, the former head of security at the company's French branch reportedly investigated how an employee could afford to drive "a brand new BMW convertible", according to documents obtained by AFP.

With the help of four police officers, the chief of staff must also send confidential information about employees to a police database.

The court in Versailles is investigating a number of similar incidents between 2009 and 2012, but prosecutors believe that the criminal acts may have lasted much longer than that.

The company was quick to condemn the documents when they became known to the public in 2012. Since the incident was discovered, four managers have been fired and the company has taken a number of measures to protect personal data, both in terms of employees and customers.

Despite this, Ikea France risks a fine of almost SEK 40 million.

"Continues in the same spirit"

"Ikea France has actively collaborated with authorities throughout the investigation and information process," the company writes in a written comment to SVT News.

"We will continue to work in the same spirit as the trial before the Versailles Criminal Court in March 2021 approaches."

The company also announces that it is not up to them to decide which acts are criminal.

"Regardless of what the court decides, the company has already been punished very severely in terms of its reputation," Ikea France's lawyer Emmanuel Daoud told AFP.