Dutch authorities have arrested an employee of the German industrial giant Siemens on suspicion he was spying for a Chinese rival, raiding his home and workplace and seizing digital data, prosecutors and the company said today.
"A 65-year-old man was arrested on Thursday at a station in Twente as part of an investigation into company espionage," the Dutch prosecution service said, referring to a region in the country's east.
He "is suspected of infringing patent rights and violating trade secrets," it said in a statement.
Siemens told AFP that an employee at Siemens Netherlands was arrested on Thursday, emphasising that the individual alone, and not the company, was the subject of the investigation.
"We can confirm that one of our Siemens Netherlands employees was arrested on 6 April 2017 and questioned by the Dutch authorities," a Siemens spokesman, Yashar Azad, said.
"Neither Siemens Netherlands nor Siemens AG is the subject of the investigation. The authorities are investigating the actions of a single employee," he said.
The man was about to travel to China, and after his arrest "his workplace, home and his luggage were searched and a number of digital data items seized," prosecutors said.
"The suspect may have provided technical information to a Chinese competitor," they said, adding that the probe had been launched after his employer became suspicious.
Siemens, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate whose businesses range from trains and medical equipment to home appliances and gas and wind turbines, said it was fully cooperating with the investigation, but could not comment further.
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