(Source: WWD.com)

A spokesperson for Gucci Group has confirmed that the company is under investigation for the illegal "revelation and use of official secrets," reports WWD.com.  The company's offices in Florence, Rome and Milan were all ordered searched by the Prosecutor's Office in Florence.

The Gucci spokesperson admits the company regularly checks on its sales network and suppliers to steer "clear of child labor laws, for example, and to commit regular tax payments."  But investigators reportedly believe that former police or tax officials may have used connections to illegally obtain such information.

Gucci's former head of security, Carlo Del Bo, has been arrested in the affair.  He resigned from Gucci in 2007, and is reportedly connected to a previous scandal that involved the tapping of prominent Italians' phones, including that of Alessandra Facchinetti, who was replaced as head of women's designs at Gucci in 2005. 

Facchinetti was removed as creative director of Valentino earlier this month after less than a year on the job.

(Posted 24 Oct 2008)