Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is at the center of a “spying scandal” in which branch employees of Italy’s largest bank allegedly illegally accessed and “spy” on thousands of personal accounts.
An Intesa Sanpaolo bank employee has been accused of breaching privacy laws and endangering national security by illegally accessing more than 3,500 accounts belonging to politicians, businessmen, celebrities and athletes.
Banker Vincenzo Coviello, 52, said he was motivated by “curiosity” and had felt frustrated in his career. He told authorities he did not keep records of bank activity to which he had access, which revealed customer locations and other sensitive data, and denied sharing the information with anyone.
But Meloni said there were actually “pressure groups” behind Coviello’s actions seeking to force her out of office and disrupt democracy, turning the case into a national scandal.
So what actually happened?
How was the account accessed and who did it belong to?
Coviello, a clerk at a branch in Bisceglie, Puglia region in southern Italy, began spying in February 2022. According to a police investigation, Coviello illegally accessed customers’ personal accounts 6,976 times over two years.
His targets are said to have included Meloni. Her younger sister Ariana is the secretariat coordinator for the ruling party “Italian Brothers”. and Andrea Giambruno, the prime minister’s former partner.
The long list of politicians whose accounts were accessed also includes Defense Minister Guido Crocet, European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto, Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche and Senate President Ignazio La Russa.
Coviello is also responsible for the finances of deceased Italian businessman and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, as well as the heirs of businessman Lapo Elkann, former soccer player Francesco Totti, and singer Al Bano. He is also suspected of spying on the situation.
What kind of information was accessed and what was done with it?
Mr. Coviello’s position within the bank gave him access to customer information, including times and locations for cash withdrawals, online and card payments, and bank transfers.
The information obtained is highly sensitive and can be used to learn about an individual’s whereabouts, contacts, transactions, assets, debts, etc.
This type of information could have been downloaded, stored, and sold to business competitors, political opponents, or various scammers seeking to blackmail or blackmail politicians or celebrities. The dark web is one of the avenues that law enforcement is still investigating to determine whether information was actually sold.
But Mr Coviello denied storing or sharing the information and claimed he acted out of a “psychological obsession” that led him to seek professional help.
It is not yet clear whether this information was sold or otherwise leaked.
Is there a police investigation?
Bari’s public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation. The clerk is accused of violating privacy laws and endangering national security with an unidentified accomplice.
Bari prosecutor Roberto Rossi said Mr Coviello was most likely working with another person who requested access to the files.
However, the clerk claims he acted alone. Italy’s Carabinieri police are looking into his financial situation to see if he has received any payments.
Coviello was dismissed from his post in August after evidence of misconduct at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo emerged and the company initiated internal disciplinary action.
Why does Meloni say this is part of a larger conspiracy to remove her from public office?
Meloni claims the spying was an attempt to undermine the government, but an ongoing investigation has so far produced no evidence to support her claims.
“Pressure groups do not tolerate people in government who do not yield to pressure and are not intimidated, so they are probably trying to remove pressure groups through other means,” she told TG5 News Bulletin. “But I’m afraid they won’t be able to get me out.”
The leader of the right-wing Italian Brotherhood party said almost all the politicians whose accounts were accessed were from his own political line.
It is unknown whether this was the case. Italian media reported that the search queries made by the clerk appeared to be random and targeted accounts belonging to people from all political walks of life.
This is not the first time Meloni has claimed to be part of a broader conspiracy to oust him.
This year, Magistrate Antonio Laudati and Pasquale Striano, Italy’s law enforcement agency and financial police officer for the Guardia di Finanza, who corresponds to the Minister of Economy and Finance, accessed files on rebel groups. It turned out. – Mafia Investigation Bureau against the Prime Minister and his government officials without prior permission.
The motives behind Laudati and Striano’s moves are being investigated.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the incidents raise “strong suspicions of an attempt to change the course of democracy,” but so far no such plots have been uncovered. .
