*

43-year-old suspect charged with theft, violating

sanctions on

Russia

*

Suspect's custody extended until February

*

Said to have sold sensitive documents to Russian

state-owned

companies

(Rewrites with court hearing throughout)

By Toby Sterling

ROTTERDAM, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A Dutch court on Monday

extended the detention of a Russian former employee of

semiconductor equipment maker ASML suspected of

stealing intellectual property and selling it to buyers in

Russia in violation of European sanctions.

The suspect is German Aksenov, a 43-year-old man who has

worked for ASML subsidiary Mapper and chip technology company

NXP.

He is suspected of stealing design manuals for microchips,

microchip equipment and for technology with potential military

applications that belonged to ASML, Mapper, NXP and the Delft

University of Technology, to which he had access through his

employment.

During the initial hearing in the case on Monday, the

prosecution said Aksenov took USB sticks with the information to

Moscow and gave them to state-owned companies for cash, with the

goal of setting up a microchip plant.

Aksenov, who was arrested on Aug. 28 and has been in custody

since, denied all charges.

The prosecution asked for his detention to be extended until

the next hearing in February, saying there was a risk the

suspect might flee and would continue to leak secrets.

The facts alleged would merit a prison sentence of

"considerable length", the prosecution said.

Before the hearing, a spokesperson for ASML said the company

was aware of the criminal case.

"In accordance with our policy, we have also filed a

complaint ourselves," the person said, adding the company would

not comment further while the legal processes are running.

Court documents stated that Aksenov had sold the documents

for at least 43,900 euros ($46,440), knowing the money was

derived from criminal activity, and then concealed the source of

the funds he received.

"The defendant made a habit of money laundering," the

document said.

ASML bought Mapper, a Dutch firm, out of bankruptcy for 75

million euros in 2019. That, according to the 2024 book "Focus:

The ASML Way", assuaged concerns in the Dutch government and

U.S. military that it would be taken over by a Russian or

Chinese buyer.

Mapper was trying to make a lithography product similar to

ASML's, but using electrons rather than light to print the tiny

circuitry of chips, a technology known as E-beam.

That product did not succeed but the fast-growing ASML

integrated the firm's 100 engineers into its smaller metrology,

or chip-measuring, business.