It is the legal epilogue of a false espionage case.
This Thursday, the Paris criminal court sentenced Dominique Gevrey to 3 years in prison, including one year, to serve a 40,000 euro fine under an electronic bracelet for fraud and attempted fraud against Renault.
The court also permanently banned him from exercising professional activity in the field of security and intelligence.
His account in Switzerland, credited with more than 65,000 euros, was confiscated and the 65-year-old man will also have to pay the car manufacturer more than 318,000 euros (i.e. the amount defrauded from Renault) for the material damage suffered by the firm.
Dominique Gevrey was the only one of the three defendants (a fourth accused died before the trial) in the Renault “false spies” affair to be prosecuted for fraud and attempted fraud.
The two other defendants, Marc T. and Michel L., tried respectively for concealment of violation of professional secrecy and complicity in fraud and attempted fraud, were sentenced to 18 months in prison and 20,000 euros in fines. fine for one, and six months suspended prison sentence and 5,000 euros fine for the other.
A “source” that never existed
Former officer of the Defense Protection and Security Directorate (DSPD), converted to private security and recruited by Renault, Dominique Gevrey had obtained from the company that it pay him 318,000 euros to pay a “source » which would, in fact, never have existed.
This trumped-up spy story led to the dismissal of three executives from the car manufacturer.
It all started with an anonymous letter sent on August 17, 2010 to four senior executives of the manufacturer to denounce the payment of bribes to employees in exchange for sensitive information surrounding a flagship Renault electric car program.
The manufacturer, then headed by Carlos Ghosn, took the matter seriously enough to open an internal investigation entrusted to its protection department (DGP).
Who was the author of the anonymous letter that ignited the problem?
The question remains open.
But for Renault's lawyer, civil party to the trial, Me Philippe Goossens, there are "disturbing elements" which suggest that the mysterious "crow" and Dominique Gevrey are one and the same person.
Hiding behind an anonymous source in Belgium, the former soldier, now aged 65, gave the names of three executives who allegedly received bribes on accounts in Switzerland or Liechtenstein.
The matter suddenly came to a head when rumors implicated China, which defended itself against “unacceptable” accusations.
Domestic intelligence excluded from investigation
In fact, everything was wrong.
But the careers of the three Renault executives, until then considered model employees, were destroyed.
In January 2011, they were fired.
Carlos Ghosn goes to the set of 8 p.m. on TF1 to overwhelm them.
Disturbing fact noted by the prosecution, the DCRI (Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence, ancestor of the DGSI) was excluded from the investigation.
It was only when the dismissal of the three executives was made public that the DCRI and the government (then a 15% shareholder in Renault) were finally alerted.
In less than a month, the DCRI will demonstrate that none of the three executives in question have ever had bank accounts abroad and that the alleged industrial espionage affair was fabricated.
Also read: The major cases of industrial espionage: when Carlos Ghosn believed that Renault was being spied on
In March 2011, Carlos Ghosn returned to the 8 p.m. set to present his “apologies”.
During this affair, other Renault executives revealed that they had been dismissed on the basis of anonymous denunciations.
Since then, the three defendants have been compensated by the manufacturer.
Two left Renault, the third stayed there.
Several managers of the diamond brand, including its former number 2 Patrick Pélata, resigned following this affair.
As for Dominique Gevrey, he was arrested in March 2011 as he was preparing to fly to Guinea.
He spent eight months in pre-trial detention.