LVMH boss Bernard Arnault said he did not know about allegedly illegal surveillance ordered by a trusted associate almost a decade ago, as he testified in at times fiery exchanges with lawyers in the trial of a former French spy chief.
Bernard Squarcini, who headed France's domestic security services from 2008 to 2012, was later hired by luxury goods giant LVMH as a security consultant.
He is accused of illegally collecting information on private individuals and violating privacy laws while helping the company fight counterfeits and monitor left-wing activists planning to target the company with protests.
Lawyers for Squarcini said he would plead not guilty.
Arnault, LVMH's chairman and CEO and one of the world's richest people, is not accused of any wrongdoing in the trial.
LVMH paid a €10m settlement in 2021 to close a criminal probe into the company's role in the case.
But the case has cast light on the lengths to which the company has allegedly gone to protect its image. LVMH declined to comment on the case.
Replying to prosecution questions, Arnault said he was unaware of actions taken by Pierre Gode, his longtime right-hand man at LVMH who died in 2018.
"It's not for me to judge what Mr Gode could have done. I was absolutely not aware," the 75-year-old told a full Paris court, adding that LVMH had a clear policy of following the law.
The two-week trial has thrust Arnault into the spotlight at a time when his sprawling luxury empire is grappling with a downturn in the industry and a reshuffling of top management to make way for his children.
Eldest son Antoine Arnault and two other executives were in court watching the proceedings.
Arnault's testimony, lasting almost three hours, became heated at times, with the famously private billionaire growing visibly annoyed by questioning from lawyers for French politician and activist Francois Ruffin.
LVMH paid Squarcini's consulting firm Kyrnos €2.2m for services including allegedly searching the background of individuals suspected of counterfeiting luxury goods.
Squarcini also allegedly monitored Ruffin and members of his left-wing publication Fakir as they planned to disrupt an LVMH shareholder meeting and prepared their satirical documentary film "Merci Patron".
The film, which won the French Cesar award for best documentary in 2017, follows family members who lost their jobs at a supplier to LVMH.
Speaking to journalists after the trial, Arnault's lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, said the questioning from Ruffin's lawyers had little link to the events examined in the trial.
"LVMH appears on every page of the file on this trial, having ordered the acts for which the defendants are being tried," said Benjamin Sarfati, Ruffin's lawyer.
Asked about Ruffin in court, Arnault said he had watched his film and found it "very funny".
But he also accused Ruffin's lawyers of attacking him, threatening to sue one for libel, and alleged Ruffin was using him to get publicity for his new movie and raise his profile.
"Mr Ruffin has been using me to bolster his political career," said Arnault.
