British American Tobacco: I was a spy for cigarette giant, says whistleblower

Whistleblower Pieter Snyders says he spied and bribed people to help cigarette giant British American Tobacco (BAT) sabotage its rivals.

Snyders worked for private security firm Forensic Security Services (FSS) in South Africa, and says his job was to damage BAT’s competition.

Thousands of documents obtained by BBC Panorama show how FSS paid almost 200 informants to secretly gather information on BAT’s rivals.

BAT says it was helping combat trade in black market cigarettes, adding that it wasn’t unlawful to pay sources to gather information about criminal behaviour.

Watch BBC Panorama: Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business on BBC One on Monday at 19:35 BST, or on BBC World on Saturday 18 September 02:30 GMT and 15:30 GMT, and Sunday 19 at 09:30 GMT and 21:30 GMT.