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Danish Socialists ask govt to charge Clinton with espionage

COPENHAGEN: A left-wing opposition group asked Danish authorities on Thursday to prosecute the United States and President Bill Clinton for industrial espionage.

The youth wing of the Danish Socialist People's Party said the United States had carried out electronic surveillance of companies.

District Prosecutor Karsten Hjort said the complaint would be forwarded to the police.

"They will decide what to do. They can decide to do nothing at all or to open an investigation," Hjorth said.

The youth wing said a former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) acknowledged that the United States conducted electronic surveillance of European companies, using a worldwide eavesdropping network called Echelon capable of intercepting telephone, fax and e-mail messages.

A spokeswoman at the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen declined comment.

On Monday, the European Parliament's Green Group said it had mobilised enough support to begin an inquiry into allegations of U.S. industrial espionage.

Parliamentarians demanded an investigation after a report by British journalist Duncan Campbell said Echelon was used by Washington for military and industrial espionage.

Commenting on the report James Woolsey, CIA director from 1993 to 1995, said last month that the United States might collect intelligence on bribery related to industrial contracts.-Reuters