We still remember what it have happen From December 2003 to May 2006, the indictment says, Shannon Du, 51, and her husband, Yu Qin, 49, conspired to possess trade secrets. In January 2005, Ms. Du accepted a severance package from G.M. and five days later copied thousands of pages of secret documentation onto a hard drive that belonged to a company that she and her husband had set up, called Millennium Technology International. Ms. Du then attempted to provide the hybrid technology to Chery Automobile, a Chinese automaker.
The couple is charged with conspiracy to possess trade secrets without authorization, unauthorized possession of trade secrets and wire fraud. Mr. Qin is also charged with obstruction of justice for discarding shredded documents into a Dumpster behind a grocery store, according to The Associated Press.
“As our auto industry works to find new areas of innovation, such as hybrid technology, we will not tolerate the theft of our trade secrets from foreign competitors,” Barbara McQuade, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a news release. “We will aggressively prosecute people who steal from the investment that our auto industry has made in research and development.”
Unfortunely, this spionage come up again and French is next victim of industrial spionage indicating by French auto giant Renault to stop three senior executives suspected of commercial espionage-related cases recently.
Later, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the state intelligence to find out whether China is behind the alleged espionage Renault.
Sources from the Elysee Palace, as appeared in The Guardian, Friday, January 7, 2011, said the special forces deployed to uncover the scandal, after the dismissal of three senior Renault executive on charges of 'serious error'.
The three executives were working on advanced electric car program and one of them even served in management.
If the allegations are proven, this would be a case of the largest industrial spy while potentially most destructive in recent years.
A French magazine, Le Point, claims, three people have been leaking information about the development of batteries for electric vehicles that will be produced by Renault in the next 18 months.
Le Point reported, the three executives had been approached by private companies that used to be a subcontractor Renault.Rewards for information provided will be sent to a foreign bank account.
For Renault, the bad, is that the information allegedly leaked - related technology worth billions of euros - have not been patented, so that potentially large trace.
Nevertheless, one suspects, Mathieu Tenenbaum, admitted surprise by the accusation.
His lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial, said his client was the deputy director of the electric vehicle program was thrown out of the building Renault's 'in minutes' with no chance to defend himself.
"The lack of information from the bosses, and suddenly the case was revealed to the public within four days made him confused."Meanwhile, the Renault has not commented.
Renault is France's largest carmaker, and holds an important key to the country's economy.
Together with its Japanese partner, Nissan, Renault to invest 4 billion euros to develop electric vehicles and plans to launch three new models of electric cars this year, and another four next year.
What is the reason China was accused? As we all know China is the toughest rival Renault to dominate the world market electric car at the end of this decade. Secret Renault allegedly sent to China through a network of French industrial espionage.
Renault officials and sources in the security services told the French newspaper Le Figaro yesterday that 'the interests of China' suspected to be behind the alleged theft. A government politician who specializes in the field of economic intelligence, Bernard Carayon, confirmed this report. "The suspicion is that direction," he said.
Meanwhile, China is currently campaigning for the use of environmentally friendly cars in the car industry. Industrial output target of 1 million units in 2020. This is important, because, officials in Beijing called the 70 percent of the causes of vehicle pollution in major cities of China is vehicle emissions. (Art)
(Guardian, Independent)
