PARIS (AFX) - French police have raided the headquarters of
French defence electronics group Thales (Paris: FR0000121329 - news) as part of a probe into
corruption allegations by a former executive of the group.The raid,
mid-Tuesday, was carried out by around 10 police officers with investigating
judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, sources close to the inquiry said.
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.
But 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 on Tuesday Thales was offering
its full cooperation, but declined to give details of the raid.
'Thales
intends to totally cooperation with the judicial authorities in this matter, the
spokesman said.
At the time of the allegations the company filed a
complaint against 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 two percent of the company's annual
sales.
Last year, Thales posted sales of 10.5 bln eur.
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.