PARIS Feb 8 (Reuters) – Former Areva head
Anne Lauvergeon asked a French court on Wednesday to appoint an
expert to examine the circumstances under which the nuclear
group ordered a probe in 2010 into the controversial purchase of
Canadian miner UraMin.
UraMin is at the centre of a dispute between the ousted
chief executive and the state-owned group, which has withheld
her 1.5 million-euro ($2 million) severance bonus and written
down almost all of the value of the $2.5 billion transaction.
The role of Lauvergeon, removed by the government in June,
came into focus late last year when she found a confidential
report by ALP Services revealing her spouse had been spied upon
to see if he had “illegally benefited” from the acquisition.
This document came after a report in March 2010 by Marc
Eichinger, owner of small French intelligence company Assistance
Petroleum International Capital (APIC), suggesting UraMin may
have been a scam.
Lauvergeon and her lawyers blame those who received the 2010
investigation report for not respecting Areva’s internal
controls by raising the alarm as soon as they read that the
acquisition could have been fraudulent.
The APIC study prompted Areva to order a counter
investigation that led to the ALP Services report. Both reports
were commissioned by Areva’s security offices, with the ALP one
under the responsibility of mining chief Sebastien de Montessus.
Lauvergeon and her lawyers claim the APIC report does her
“considerable harm in terms of image and reputation.”
“The APIC report plays, so it seems, a central role because
it is a pseudo justification to use illegal means (thereafter),”
Lauvergeon told journalists at the court on Wednesday.
Areva’s lawyer, Jean Reinhart, told the court the APIC
report did not call the ex-CEO into question.
Continued…
