Airbus says will file criminal complaint over US spy claims
Airbus says will file criminal complaint over US spy
claims
AFP 2 hours ago
Berlin (AFP) - European aviation and aeronautics giant
Airbus said Thursday it would file a criminal complaint against persons unknown
following German media reports it had become a target of US industrial
espionage.
"We are aware that as a large company in the sector,
we are a target and subject of espionage," the company said in a statement
to AFP. "However, in this case we are alarmed because there is concrete
suspicion of industrial espionage."
Following the recent media reports, on which the company
said it did not want to speculate, "we have asked the German government
for information," said the German-language statement.
"We will now file a criminal complaint against
persons unknown on suspicion of industrial espionage."
Germany's Bild daily said Monday, citing intelligence
agency documents, that US spy agencies had targeted Airbus and Eurocopter, now
called Airbus Helicopters, as well as other companies for years, and that the
German government had known about it since 2008.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied or sought
to spy on businesses in Europe via the German BND foreign intelligence agency's
monitoring station at Bad Aibling in southern Bavaria state, the mass
circulation newspaper said.
The Bild report, and other news reports of such alleged
intelligence cooperation, have been embarrassing for the German government
which has always portrayed itself as a victim of spying by its allies, notably
the United States.
On Thursday the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, citing a source
with knowledge of BND procedures, said the BND had also engaged in
"political espionage" when it helped the NSA snoop on "top
officials at the French foreign ministry, the Elysee Palace and European
Commission".
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