Airbus files criminal complaint over alleged German spying

Airbus has filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons over reports that German secret services helped the US to spy on the European aerospace and defence group.

The company has also demanded clarification from the German government over whether the BND intelligence service was part of an information-gathering operation involving EADS, as the group was known then, its helicopter subsidiary and other European companies.

The allegations, made in the German media citing a secret BND document, have sparked an outcry in Germany.

Public opinion was outraged in 2013 when it was discovered that US intelligence services had tapped the mobile phone of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

Last year, Berlin expelled the head of US intelligence in Germany over allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency had been recruiting spies in the country. The espionage rows dealt a damaging blow to bilateral relations, with public trust in Germany's transatlantic ally plunging.

Allegations that German officials may have aided and abetted US intelligence services in spying on one of Europe's leading industrial companies have put the government under intense and embarrassing pressure.

Thomas de Maiziere, Germany's interior minister and a close ally of Ms Merkel, was forced this week to deny that he had lied to parliament about German intelligence co-operation with US spy agencies. The minister is reported to have called for the BND report to be presented to a parliamentary committee.

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Airbus said on Thursday that it had filed a complaint with the German prosecutor to get to the bottom of the reports.

"We are aware that as a major player in this industry we are a target for intelligence activities," the group said in a statement. "In this particular case, there appears to be a reasonable suspicion of alleged industrial espionage. We are alarmed by this. We will ask the authorities to take action against X for any alleged act of criminal industrial espionage."

The company said the decision to file the complaint against unknown persons had been necessary, given the allegations that criminal activities such as phone tapping had been committed.

"We are asking the German prosecutor for a criminal investigation. This is all we can do to protect the company," it said.

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