The espionage scandal at the French automaker that has captivated the corporate governance world for three months already, just got even more unhinged. Newly released tapes of a company meeting show that Renault knew allegations against its employees could have been shady—but that it went ahead and fired them anyway.

First, Renault fired three employees in January, including a management committee member, after allegations that they were sharing electric car secrets with China. Then, when French prosecutors found no supporting evidence, the company exonerated the men and began investigating whether a fraud had been committed against them. Now, tapes of company meetings obtained by the French political magazine l'Express show that Renault wasn't sure of the proof of the alleged espionage in the first place, contrary to what Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn has stated publically.

At a meeting on February 12 at Renault attended by Christian Husson, head of the company's legal department, Rémi Pagnie, head of the security department, and Dominique Gevrey, member of the internal security team, Gevrey refused to name the source that made the accusations in the first place, despite his colleagues desperate pleas.

“If I give his name, he's done. And I'm also finished off. Is that clear?” said Gevrey on the tape.

Gevrey lamented several times that Renault went to the authorities with the allegations too quickly. Husson, on the other hand, defended the company's speed in the matter: “When it is a question of the Chinese or the Germans and electric cars, we have a responsibility to our shareholders […] In that case, you're in the very principle of precaution, I'm sorry. We made a managerial decision which is: We can't take this kind of risk.” 

The most important thing, said Husson, is that “we land on our feet” in proving that the offshore accounts, where the fired employees were alleged to have stored their kick-backs from China, exist. “If the DCRI [French intelligence agency] ever found out before us that there is actually no Swiss account,  then it's game over for the company, for Ghosn, for everyone—it will go balls-up! That's an atomic disaster!”

In January, Ghosn said on the French television station TF1, “I've known Christian Husson for years. He would never come to me with a rumor.”

Sure looks like this scandale isn't going to “land on its feet” anytime soon.