French submarine manufacturer DCNS, which is in a tight spot after classified data on Scorpene submarines pertaining to the Indian Navy got leaked, is set to take legal recourse to prevent The Australian newspaper from making public any more information from the 22,400 documents it obtained.
To seek injunction “Lawyers for DCNS have told The Australian the company will seek an injunction in the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW) today [Monday] to prevent further publication of documents,” the newspaper said in a report late on Sunday Indian time.
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French submarine manufacturer DCNS, which is set to seek an injunction in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, to stop The Australian from publishing more leaked documents on the Scorpenes, is also looking to get a court order to force the paper to “hand over the documents and remove them from its website.”
An affidavit issued by DCNS’s lawyer Justine Munsie to the newspaper says, “The publication of this highly valuable document causes a direct harm to DCNS and its customer in terms of spread of sensitive and restricted information, image and reputation.”
A report in the newspaper said DCNS has also filed a complaint against unknown persons for breach of trust with the Paris prosecutor which includes “receiving stolen goods and complicity.”
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It also contested Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s claim that the impact of the leak was minimal as, among other things, it does not include weapons details as they are from a different manufacturer.
“However, the leaked secret data seen by The Australian includes details of the capabilities of the SM39 anti-ship missile expected to be used on the Scorpene,” the report said, adding that the data includes the number of targets the missile is capable of processing, its launch details and how many targets could be downloaded before firing.