Bearing Man (South Africa, 57% owned by Invicta Holdings) recently conducted an investigation which resulted in at least one former employee charged with corporate espionage.
eBearing has been told that the former employee allegedly misappropriated key competitive information about NTN (Japan) bearings with the intent of shopping the information around to the highest bidder or as a way to help him land a job with a competitor to NTN or Bearing Man.
Several sources said the South African arm of SKF AB (Sweden) had been mentioned as a place he interviewed for a job and later might have tried to use those trade secrets, an allegation hotly denied by SKF.
SKF SA Managing Director Rob MacKenzie told South Africa's Business Day SKF had no knowledge of the individual or the information he was supposedly trafficking: "SKF has not been privy to any confidential information belonging to Bearing Man and any allegations to the contrary are denied."
After allegedly learning his scheme had been exposed, the individual reportedly made several unsuccessful attempts to surreptitiously return the stolen documents.
When he was arrested, the individual was allegedly in possession of a large volume of important trade secret documents about NTN bearings, including detailed drawings, customer, sales and pricing information.
Bearing Man is a diversified industrial product distributor, importing and distributing ball and roller bearings, belts, seals, power transmission products, electric motors and fasteners. It is the dominant bearing distributor in South Africa, selling one out of every three bearings there.
The companies involved declined comment.
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