Swedish court refuses to release alleged spy

  • 2002-11-21
STOCKHOLM

A court in Stockholm on Nov.17 rejected a request to release one of three suspects in an alleged industrial espionage plot at a subsidiary of telecommunication equipment giant Ericsson.

The imprisoned man told the court that he was authorized to pass on confidential documents to other Ericsson staff as part of his job, that he had nothing to do with any plot to sell them to Russia and should therefore be released immediately.

However, the court rejected the man's plea, saying he remains a suspect and freeing him would complicate the ongoing investigation.

The suspect, dubbed "C" by the Swedish press, was arrested earlier this month along with "A" and "B" for allegedly supplying confidential company documents to Russia.

In addition, two Russian diplomats posted in Stockholm were expelled.

"The ministry informed the Russian Embassy that two of its employees have been declared 'persona non grata' because of activities incompatible with their diplomatic status," ministry spokeswoman Nina Ersman said.

"These two people have already left the country," she added, refusing to give any further details.

According to Swedish press reports, the main suspect, "A", left the company six months ago with a payoff worth a year's salary and was caught on his way to meet his contact at the Russian Embassy.

The two other men, "B" and "C," allegedly handed him the top secret documents which they had taken from Ericsson's offices.

The Swedish media has speculated that the classified documents could concern radio equipment and or radar systems, such as those manufactured by Ericsson for the Anglo-Swedish JAS-39 Gripen jet fighter.

About 2,000 of Ericsson's 72,000 employees work in the group's defense operations, primarily in the subsidiary Ericsson Microwave Systems.

The leading daily Dagens Nyheter has suggested the Russian espionage could be a tit-for-tat response to Sweden's purchase in recent years of top secret information on Russia's air radar system.

The Russian information would have been used to help test and develop the efficiency of the JAS radar system, the paper said.