Pierre Francois, the company's second highest security official, and his immediate superior Pascal Durieux, were being suspended "as a precautionary measure following an internal inquiry", said the company.

It wanted "to ensure that the legal enquiry into unlawful intrusion into information systems is conducted with the necessary impartiality," the statement added.

Francois has been charged with conspiring to hack into Greenpeace's computer systems. Durieux is being questioned as an "assisted witness," a status half-way between a witness and suspect.

EDF confirmed last month that an investigation had been opened for "fraudulent intrusion into computer systems" and that a search had been carried out on its premises.

But the energy giant said it was a victim of the detective firm Kargus, and that it had registered as a civil plaintiff in the case, a spokesman told AFP.

A source close to the investigation told AFP that Kargus had signed a contract to provide unspecified "services" for EDF.

Friday's announcement came after a report Wednesday in the French satirical and investigative weekly Le Canard Enchaine.

It said that EDF had signed a contract with Securewyse, a security firm based in Lausanne, Switzerland, to monitor another ecological group, "Sortir du nucleaire" (Get out of nuclear).

Friday's statement said: "EDF has just found out... that a monitoring contract with Securewyse, which has been cancelled, was signed without full regard for the Group's rules."

It added: "EDF wholeheartedly condemns any method aimed at obtaining information illegally."

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Paris (AFP) April 30, 2009
French nuclear power group Areva said Thursday it had filed a request for arbitration to try to stop Germany's Siemens creating a rival venture with Russian group Rosatom.