Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Ericsson Workers Face Espionage Charges

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 15:27:55 -0400

Ericsson Workers Face Espionage Charges

Three employees of LM Ericsson, maker of wireless equipment, are being
charged with allegedly giving company secrets to a Russian intelligence official.
Afshin Bavand is accused of handing over company information to a Russian
agent. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Mansour Rokkgireh and Alireza
Rafiei Bejarkenari are charged with helping to gather information. They could
face four to five years in prison. An Ericsson spokesperson said the information
passed involved the company's commercial telecommunications systems, not
its military-related work and could not harm Ericsson customers.

==============================================================

3 Charged in Ericsson Spy Investigation
Thu May 8, 9:27 PM ET

By TOMMY GRANDELL, Associated Press Writer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Three employees of wireless (news - web sites)
equipment maker LM Ericsson (news - web sites) face espionage charges
for allegedly passing secret information from the company to a Russian
intelligence official, Swedish prosecutors said Thursday.

Afshin Bavand, 46, was charged with gross espionage and industrial
espionage, while Mansour Rokkgireh, 44, and Alireza Rafiei Bejarkenari,
40, were charged with complicity in industrial espionage.

If convicted, Bavand could be sentenced to life in prison, while Rokkgireh
and Bejarkenari could get four to five years, chief prosecutor Thomas
Lindstrand said. All three are Swedish citizens.

The trial is scheduled to start May 14 and last for two weeks. A verdict is
expected in June.

Bavand is accused of handing over secret company information to a Russian
intelligence agent, while Rokkgireh and Bejarkenari are accused of helping
him gather the information. The three men are Swedish citizens.

"If these company secrets have been given away, it is my opinion that it
may cause harm to the overall defense or to the security of the country,"
Lindstrand told The Associated Press.

But Ericsson spokesman Henry Stenson said the espionage involved the
company's commercial telecommunications systems, and not its
military-related work.

"The main suspect has delivered company secrets, but nothing that in any
way could harm our customers have come out," Stenson said. "The Cold
War is over, but evidently there is a continued interest in gathering
information."

Stockholm-based Ericsson, which has about 61,000 employees and
operations in more than 140 countries, also makes radar systems for
defense programs worldwide, including for the JAS-39 Gripen fighter planes
made by Sweden's Saab and Britain's BAE Systems.

The suspects worked in the company's development unit but didn't hold
high-ranking positions, according to Ericsson.

Bavand was arrested Nov. 5, 2002, while talking to a Russian intelligence
agent in a Stockholm suburb. Police searched the Russian, who wasn't
identified, and found $4,000 in cash and Ericsson documents.

Sweden responded by expelling two Russian diplomats. Russia later
expelled two Swedish diplomats, apparently in retaliation.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030509/ap_on_re_eu/ericsson_espionage_3

___

On the Net:

http://www.ericsson.com

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