France’s Finance Minister Demands Tech Firm Explains ICE Contract | EUROtoday

PARIS (AP) — France’s finance minister is urging French tech firm Capgemini to be totally clear over a contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as calls develop for scrutiny of the company’s function in imposing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The firm, which employs greater than 340,000 individuals in additional than 50 nations, signed a contract with ICE in December by way of its subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions (CGS).

“I urge Capgemini to shed light, in an extremely transparent manner, on its activities, on this policy, and undoubtedly to question the nature of these activities,” Finance Minister Roland Lescure instructed French legislators late Tuesday.

Lescure feedback got here after Capgemini CEO Aiman ​​Ezzat stated he not too long ago was made conscious of the contract awarded to CGS.

“The nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm,” Ezzat stated in a message posted on LinkedIn. “In full respect of the separate governance and restrictions of CGS, I have been informed that the independent board of directors has already begun the process of reviewing the content and scope of this contract and CGS contracting procedures.”

Ezzat stated that CGS engages with the US federal authorities and operates underneath an settlement permitting it to deal with categorised work that requires separation of its operations from the Capgemini Group.

“This creates many restrictions, notably CGS has a board that is controlled by ‘cleared’ independent US directors, decision making is separate, networks are firewalled, and the Capgemini Group cannot access any classified information, classified contracts, or anything relating to the technical operations of CGS, as required by US regulation,” he stated.

Lescure stated he was not satisfied by the argument that the subsidiary has a separate governance construction, leading to Capgemini not being conscious of the contract that has been signed.

“I told them that this explanation was not sufficient,” he stated. “And that the very least … one can expect is that a company which owns subsidiaries should know what is going on within those companies, and that this is what Capgemini has committed to doing.”

Trump’s immigration crackdown has in latest weeks intensified in Minneapolis, resulting in the deadly shootings of two US residents by the hands of federal immigration officers.