Michael Schumacher files: Swiss firm 'investigated'

A Swiss helicopter firm is at the centre of an inquiry into attempts to sell F1 ex-champion Michael Schumacher's medical file, the BBC reported.

Schumacher, 45, was moved on 16 June from a French hospital to a hospital in Lausanne in Switzerland.

Although he was transferred by road, initial contact was reportedly made with the helicopter company.

He suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident last December and has come out of a medically-induced coma.

Schumacher's manager, Sabine Kehm, said last month that his medical files had been "clearly stolen" and were being offered for sale. She warned that criminal charges would be pressed if such "confidential files" were bought or published.

The medical records, said to consist of a few pages written by his doctors in the French city of Grenoble, were apparently being offered for sale to media across Europe for 50,000 euros (£40,000, $68,000).

Now French and Swiss media say the prosecutor in Grenoble is looking at a computer whose IP address has been traced to a Swiss helicopter company, which was sent the medical files while the ex-champion's doctors were considering how to transport him to Lausanne.

The latest development emerged in French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, and Swiss media said it had been confirmed by the prosecutor in Grenoble.

Suspicions had initially fallen on the hospital in Grenoble and the ambulance team which eventually drove him across the border.

According to the Grenoble prosecutor, the computer was traced back to a helicopter company in the Swiss canton of Zurich. The company's name has not been made public.

The file had been sent to a doctor at the company, although there was nothing to link the doctor to the alleged offence.