STOCKHOLM-A Swedish court has sentenced a 47-year-old man to three years in prison for spying for Russia by handing over confidential information about the Swedish truck and bus manufacturer Scania to a Russian diplomat for money over several years.

The man, identified as Kristian Dimitrievski, had been charged with delivering sensitive company information to his dealers about Scania but also about the Chinese-owned Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars. Gothenburg District Court acquitted him of the later indictment in its verdict on Wednesday.

Dimitrievski, a civil engineer living in Sweden’s second city Gothenburg who worked between 2016-2019 as a consultant first with Volvo Cars and later with Scania, denied the allegations. His nationality was not specified in legal papers.

The court said that Dimitrievski in 2016 came in contact with a Russian embassy official and the two began to meet with some regularity until the man was arrested at a meeting with the Russian diplomat at a restaurant in central Stockholm in 2019.

“The district court has concluded that the man copied secret information from both Volvo and Scania … which he then handed over to the Russian embassy official and that he was fully aware that the information he provided would benefit Russia,” the court said in a statement.

The Swedish court said that in order for a suspect to be convicted of espionage, it must be proven that Sweden’s security can be damaged if the information benefits foreign powers.

“The district court has ruled that this is the case with regard to the information … from Scania, while it has not been proven that this is the case with regard to the information from Volvo,” the court said.

Prosecutors had previously said that the man’s actions endangered Sweden’s security and demanded “a long sentence.” In Sweden, the maximum penalty for espionage is six years.