A suspended McLaren designer suspected of industrial espionage against the Italian Formula 1 team Ferrari has agreed to present a sworn statement giving details of his involvement in the alleged affair.
The statement will be signed by chief designer Mike Coughlan as well as his wife Trudy, his alleged accomplice, and a copy will also be sent to the international racing federation FIA.
The agreement was part of a compromise in which Ferrari said it would not immediately ask that a copy of the affidavit be filed with prosecutors in Italy.
Ferrari suspect that one of its own former employees, engineer Nigel Stepney, may have been in cahoots with Coughlan.
The Italian team said a decision whether or not to initiate further court action in Italy will be made depending on the contents of Coughlan's affidavit.
The team has already filed a criminal suit against its long-time technical staffer for possible attempted sabotage before the Monaco Grand Prix.
Although Stepney denied all wrongdoing and accused Ferrari of waging a "dirty tricks" campaign against him, he is under investigation in Italy for both industrial espionage and sabotage.
Under British law, if any of the details in the affidavit prove false, Coughlan and his wife will automatically be guilty of perjury and could be sent to jail.
Ferrari has asked that Coughlan explain in full how and when he came into possession of 780 pages of detailed technical information on Ferrari's Formula 1 cars.
It also wants to know when McLaren Managing Director Jonathan Neale, number three at the British team, was informed about the documents.
McLaren has assured Ferrari that none of its intellectual property was used on McLaren race cars.
A lawyer for Ferrari said the team discovered that Coughlan had the data after being tipped off that his wife had the 780 pages photocopied in a local shop.
Copies of the documentation were found in Coughlan's home when it was searched last week on a request from Ferrari.
FIA has begun its own inquiry into the case and said it had the "full cooperation" of both teams.
The probe, FIA said, would not concern the legal aspects of the case but only focus on any possible breaches of FIA regulations.
