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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Court reduces spying sentence for Ikea France ex-boss

A French appeals court on Friday cut the sentence of a former Ikea France chief convicted in 2021 of setting up an illegal system to spy on staff and job applicants.. Ikea France, sentenced to a one-million-euro fine in 2021, did not appeal.

A French appeals court on Friday cut the sentence of a former Ikea France chief convicted in 2021 of setting up an illegal system to spy on staff and job applicants.

Jean-Louis Baillot was originally handed a suspended two-year prison term and ordered to pay 50,000 euros ($54,000 at the current rate). He was accused of setting up an elaborate system to monitor staff and prospective staff at the Swedish furniture giant's French operations over several years, using private detectives as well as police sources.

Baillot and Ikea France were originally found guilty of "receiving personal data by fraudulent means" with prosecutors accusing them of illicitly carrying out "mass surveillance".

But in its decision Friday the appeals court in Versailles, west of Paris, cut the prison term for Baillot, who ran Ikea France from 1996 to 2002, to a suspended four months, and the fine to 20,000 euros.

Baillot, who had denied any wrongdoing during the trial, said he was "shocked" by the original verdict.

The trial focussed on spying allegations that dated from 2009 to 2012, although prosecutors said the system was set up nearly a decade earlier under Baillot's watch.

In the verdict on appeal, the court found that Baillot was not, after all, guilty of...



Read Full Story: https://news.kisspr.com/2023/01/27/court-reduces-spying-sentence-for-ikea-fra...