PARIS AFX - French police raided a key division of the defence ministry as part of a probe into corruption allegations by a former executive of
French defence electronics group Thales SA, sources close to the inquiry
said.
The raid came a day after a dozen police officers searched Thales
(Paris: FR0000121329 - news) headquarters for almost
10 hours, as well as the home of businessman Gerard Bertinetti, who played a key
role in a 2002 deal between Thales and the defence ministry's general armament
commission (DGA).
A search was also carried out today at the home of a
former DGA engineer.
At Thales headquarters in the Paris suburb of
Neuilly-sur-Seine police assisted by a magistrate seized a large number of
files, accountant data and copies of computer disks.
Michel Josserand,
former head of Thales' engineering and consulting unit, accused Thales of
corrupt practices during an investigation into the attribution of contracts for
a tramway system under construction in the French town of
Nice.
Magistrates in Paris opened an investigation in July as a result of
Josserand's claims.
In a newspaper interview later in September, he gave
a detailed description of the alleged system, accusing the company of organising
a centralised slush fund to bribe and corrupt officials to win
contracts.
At the time the company issued a formal denial of the
allegations, stressing that Josserand had been sacked for his involvement in
'irregularities'.
A company spokesman said yesterday that Thales was
offering its full cooperation, but declined to give details of the
raid. 'Thales intends to totally cooperate with the judicial authorities in
this matter,' the spokesman said.
At the time of the allegations the
company filed a complaint against the newspaper Le Monde, which carried the
allegations, and Josserand for defamation.
In comments published by the
respected French daily, Josserand alleged that Thales had constructed a secret
internal system to pay commissions that totalled as much as 2 pct of the
company's annual sales.
Josserand said the system was known only to a few
people in the Thales holding company, Thales International, and the executives
at the top of the group.
Sources close to the investigation said
Wednesday that evidence turned up
during the search of Thales headquarters appeared
to back up allegations made by Josserand on the payment of commissions, but
it was not immediately clear whether there was any foul play.