Versailles (AFP)
"Grotesque" or "shocking": the former leaders of Ikea France, prosecuted for having spied on hundreds of their employees, have blamed themselves for these accusations during the often heated exchanges Friday before the court of Versailles.
Thursday, the former "Mr. security" of Ikea France, Jean-François Paris, had described the "mass controls" of employees, including trade unionists, set up by the company via private investigation companies which, according to the prosecution, confidential data such as the criminal record, the lifestyle or the assets of the interested parties were taken from police files.
But if he recognizes the existence of the system, Mr. Paris does not intend to assume its generalization alone: he has repeatedly repeated having followed an instruction formulated in 2007 by the former CEO Jean-Louis Baillot during a meal. in the cafeteria on the premises of the subsidiary in Yvelines.
"It's ridiculous, grotesque. Can you imagine (...) discussing such a sensitive subject, alongside all the collaborators?", Reacted Friday at the bar Mr. Baillot, 67 years old.
"I don't even know how to say such nonsense," continued the man with graying hair, black fatigues and navy blue sweater.
"Jean-François Paris had full autonomy to work, he did not have to report to me," he insists, recalling that he was not his direct supervisor.
Mr. Paris "could have taken such an initiative without notifying the hierarchy? For ten years?" Asks the president.
"Yes", answers the former boss without hesitation, to the laughter of the civil parties.
- "Letter box" -
Jean-François Paris, director of risk management at Ikea France from 2002 to 2012, said he had sent lists of people "to be tested", in particular to the private investigation company Eirpace.
Jean-Louis Baillot admits to having signed two invoices in the name of this company, but without knowing their content.
“What do you look at when you sign an invoice?” Asks the president.
"Just who signed it and the amount. Me, I'm not a controller," says Mr. Baillot.
Following the revelation of the affair in 2012 in the Canard Enchaîné and Mediapart, the CEO was fired.
He faces up to ten years' imprisonment.
At the bar, he is not the only one to deny the words of Mr. Paris.
In a voice often broken by emotion, his former deputy director Sylvie Weber denies having been informed of the illegality of the surveillance practices.
She claims to have been only a "letterbox" between Mr. Paris and store managers.
"I blame Mr. Paris, because he admitted during the hearings that he knew it was illegal, and I am outraged, I have no words…", she declares, the palms hands turned to the sky as if to implore forgiveness.
"If I had known at the time, I would never have complied with such a request," she said of a list of names she passed on for the Reims store.
"For you, at the time, asking for a criminal record of employees, without them knowing it, was it not illegal?", Quips Sofiane Hakiki, a lawyer for the civil parties.
“At Ikea, we never ask ourselves a question while we are an executive?”, In turn tackles the prosecutor, Paméla Tabardel.
- "Isolated initiatives" -
The prosecution also accuses Ms. Weber of having, after the revelation of the case in the press, emptied a safe with documents that could be used for the investigation.
"I panicked," she defends herself, assuring that she handed over "all of the documents" a few days later.
Another former CEO is among the defendants: Stefan Vanoverbeke (2010-2015), who succeeded Mr. Baillot.
"The question is to know if the system could be ignored at your level", reminds him the president, stressing that the file was devoid of "documents" the "implicating" in this affair.
At the helm, this tall Belgian says he is "shocked by these methods", seeing "isolated initiatives" but not an "Ikea policy".
Same defense on the side of the French subsidiary of Ikea, which incurs a fine of up to 3.75 million euros.
"Everything I have heard for three days is shocking and completely at odds with Ikea's values," says Karine Havas, its legal representative and current financial director.
However, she cannot respond to a civil party lawyer who asks her what repairs the company has brought to the supervised employees.
"Until proven otherwise, we have the right to the presumption of innocence," she says.
The trial resumes Monday, with the pleadings of the civil parties.
© 2021 AFP