France: Ikea sentenced for spying on its employees
An Ikea store near Rennes.
REUTERS - STEPHANE MAHE
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3 min
The French subsidiary of Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, was sentenced to a million euros fine and one of its former CEOs to two years in prison for having spied on several hundred employees between 2009 and 2012. The Versailles Criminal Court found them guilty of “concealing personal data by fraudulent means”.
The penalties are, however, less severe than those required by the prosecution.
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In this case, the investigations started in 2012 had brought to light, according to the prosecution, a well-established system of surveillance of employees of the French subsidiary of Ikea.
Bank statements, criminal record, lifestyle, the furniture giant was notably accused of having fraudulently obtained information appearing in STIC, a police file listing the perpetrators and victims of crime.
In addition to the company, 15 people were prosecuted: former directors of the subsidiary, store managers, boss of a private investigative company or police officers.
The stake of this trial
, in the words of the prosecutor, was "
that of the protection of our private data against a threat, that of mass surveillance
".
"
A strong message
"
Asking the court to send "
a strong message
" to "
all commercial companies
", she requested a fine of two million euros against Ikea France and six-month sentences suspended three years in prison, one year closed against thirteen defendants. This last sentence, the heaviest, had been required against Jean-Louis Baillot, a former CEO of the group and the initiator, according to the prosecutor, of this "
policy
" which affected nearly 400 employees. The ex-boss, who denied outright, escaped prison, receiving a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of 50,000 euros. That inflicted on Ikea France is also below requisitions, since that finally set at one million euros.
►Also read:
Employees spied on: the Ikea France trial opened in Versailles
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