The head of nuclear security at French energy giant EDF has been given a prison sentence and his company fined €1.5m (£1.3m) after being found guilty of spying on environmental campaigners Greenpeace using Trojan malware.
The company, which runs 58 nuclear power stations in France and eight in the UK, was alleged to have set out in 2006 to spy on the Greenpeace’s then head of campaigns in France, Yannick Jadot.
Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said: “The evidence presented at the trial showed that the espionage undertaken by EDF in its efforts to discredit Greenpeace was both extensive and totally illegal. The company should now give a full account of the spying operation it mounted against its critics.”
Kargus Consultants, the firm employed to carry out the surveillance was said to have used Trojans to attack Jadot’s computer, stealing 1,400 documents relating to the organisation’s campaign against nuclear power.
The court in Nanterre handed EDF former security head Pascal Durieux a three-year jail sentence with one year suspended, while his deputy Pierre-Paul François was given three years with 30 months suspended.
The head of Kargus, Thierry Lorho, was given three years in jail with two suspended and a 4,000 euro fine, while his technical expert and former secret service man, Alain Quiros, was given two years suspended.
