07/02/2008
NEWS STORY
Gazzetta dello Sport reports that a number of high ranking members of the McLaren team are to face questioning in Italy as part of the legal probe into last year's spy saga.
The Italian newspaper claims that Modena magistrate Giuseppe Tibis is to hear evidence from Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh, engineering director Paddy Lowe and former chief designer Mike Coughlan, who is currently suspended. The meeting is scheduled for February 18, with former Ferrari engineer, the man who allegedly started the whole wretched affair, also scheduled to meet Tibis.
Members of the McLaren team were warned of the investigation over the course of the Italian GP weekend, when they were served with an "avviso di garanzia", a legal notification that one is suspected of a crime and is being investigated. A number of employees notified at that time however, are not on the list of people to be interviewed by Tibis because the investigators did not have their home addresses. It is understood that these include Jonathan Neale and Rob Taylor.
Although the 'sporting' side of the spy saga is at an end, with McLaren fined $100m, excluded form the 2007 Constructors' Championship and subsequently issuing a full and frank apology, Ferrari is continuing legal action against various individuals, both in the UK and Italy.