Teh One Who Knocks
02-29-2012, 10:30 PM
Furniture giant also 'snooped on suspicious staff'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Furniture giant Ikea paid for secret police files to spy on 'complaining' customers and 'suspicious' staff at stores in France, it was claimed today.
The Swedish company paid private security firms to carry out checks on criminal records and links to political groups on more than 200 people, it is alleged.
Customers involved in legal action with Ikea and employees highlighted as 'suspicious' were all targeted in the scandal which began in 2003, it was reported today.
http://i.imgur.com/6Xb0D.jpg
France's Canard Enchaine newspaper said it had uncovered email showing bosses paid £70 each for the reports taken from a national French police database.
The paper said: 'Questions were asked about more than 200 people, including requests for criminal records, vehicle registration checks and affiliations with political organisations.
'Ikea's head of security authorised payments of 80 euros for each check carried out.
http://i.imgur.com/gFuX1.jpg
'The information was then used in deciding whether to fire certain staff members or provide intelligence on customers involved in legal disputes with them.'
The offence is punishable with a £270,000 fine and up to five years in prison, the paper said.
It is not the first time the company has been criticised over its security methods.
A 2010 book called The Truth About IKEA claimed the company was 'racism and nepotistic' and said its surveillance methods on staff were 'worthy of the Stasi'.
http://i.imgur.com/jrto7.jpg
An Ikea spokesman in France said of the latest allegations: 'We disapprove in the strongest possible way of all these kinds of illegal practices which are an affront to important values such as respect for a person's private life.
'We intend to carry out a full investigation to find out what if anything has been taking place.
'But we stress that our own investigation in no way amounts to any kind of admission that these practices have been carried out.'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Furniture giant Ikea paid for secret police files to spy on 'complaining' customers and 'suspicious' staff at stores in France, it was claimed today.
The Swedish company paid private security firms to carry out checks on criminal records and links to political groups on more than 200 people, it is alleged.
Customers involved in legal action with Ikea and employees highlighted as 'suspicious' were all targeted in the scandal which began in 2003, it was reported today.
http://i.imgur.com/6Xb0D.jpg
France's Canard Enchaine newspaper said it had uncovered email showing bosses paid £70 each for the reports taken from a national French police database.
The paper said: 'Questions were asked about more than 200 people, including requests for criminal records, vehicle registration checks and affiliations with political organisations.
'Ikea's head of security authorised payments of 80 euros for each check carried out.
http://i.imgur.com/gFuX1.jpg
'The information was then used in deciding whether to fire certain staff members or provide intelligence on customers involved in legal disputes with them.'
The offence is punishable with a £270,000 fine and up to five years in prison, the paper said.
It is not the first time the company has been criticised over its security methods.
A 2010 book called The Truth About IKEA claimed the company was 'racism and nepotistic' and said its surveillance methods on staff were 'worthy of the Stasi'.
http://i.imgur.com/jrto7.jpg
An Ikea spokesman in France said of the latest allegations: 'We disapprove in the strongest possible way of all these kinds of illegal practices which are an affront to important values such as respect for a person's private life.
'We intend to carry out a full investigation to find out what if anything has been taking place.
'But we stress that our own investigation in no way amounts to any kind of admission that these practices have been carried out.'