In France, four people charged on suspicion of supplying industrial secrets to China and Russia

Two Frenchmen and two Chinese, including two directors of a high-tech company, were charged in Paris on March 24 on suspicion of having delivered industrial secrets to China and Russia, a judicial source announced on July 27.

The Ommic case

Ommic, a French flagship manufacturer of semiconductors for the telecommunications and space industries, was gradually taken over by Ruoadan Z., a 63-year-old Chinese, who became chairman in 2018 after buying 94% of the shares via an investment fund set up in France, according to the daily Le Parisien, which revealed the investigation.

Marc R., the managing director and a Chinese executive of the company, have been charged with delivering to a foreign power processes, documents or files likely to undermine the fundamental interests of France, a crime punishable by fifteen years’ imprisonment and a fine of €225,000.

The suspects delivered powerful chips and information on sensitive technologies to China and Russia – media

According to the media, the courts suspect Marc R. of having “put in place several circumvention schemes to knowingly deliver powerful chips and information on sensitive technologies to China and Russia”, particularly the mastery of gallium nitride. This material allows semiconductors to be multiplied in power.

According to Le Parisien, a sophisticated scheme was “put in place to transfer prohibited equipment to Moscow via China and circumvent the economic sanctions that has targeted Russia since the invasion of Crimea”.

Initially kept in custody, Marc R. was released under judicial supervision by the Paris Court of Appeal, according to the judicial source.

According to the same source, the other three defendants are also under judicial supervision. Five other people were arrested by the French domestic intelligence service (DGSI) in March, according to Le Parisien.

First suspicions arose during a customs inspection in 2021

Le Parisien claims that the first suspicions arose during a customs inspection in early 2021, which led to the opening of a preliminary investigation by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office in November 2022, entrusted to the DGSI and the Central Office for the Repression of Serious Financial Crime.

According to Mediapart’s judicial source, major criminal seizures have been made. 

According to Le Parisien, shares in the company were seized, enabling French control of the company to be taken over. The company was then sold to the American company Macom.

The judicial investigation opened at the request of the Pnat also includes suspicions of illegally smuggled exports, criminal conspiracy, forgery and misuse of corporate assets, according to the judicial source.