How did a ‘bank snooping’ scandal ensnare politicians in Italy?

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, is accused of snooping on thousands of private accounts and is at the center of an “snooping scandal” at the largest bank in Italy.

A clerk at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has been accused of gaining unauthorised access to more than 3, 500 accounts belonging to politicians, businesspeople, celebrities and athletes, violating privacy laws and threatening national security.

The bank clerk, Vincenzo Coviello, 52, said he was motivated by “curiosity” and was frustrated in his career. He denied giving any information to anyone and claimed to keep a log of the bank activity he had access to, which reveals the client’s whereabouts and other sensitive information.

Meloni, however, has turned the incident into a national scandal, saying “pressure groups” seeking to drive her from office and to interfere with democracy were really behind Coviello’s actions.

So what really happened?

Whose accounts were the accounts’ owners and how were they accessed?

Coviello, a clerk in a branch in the Apulia region of southern Italy, allegedly engaged in spying activity in February 2022. For more than two years, he illegally accessed clients ‘ personal accounts 6, 976 times, according to a police investigation.

His targets allegedly included Meloni, her sister Arianna, the coordinator of the secretariat of the governing party, Brothers of Italy, and the prime minister’s former partner Andrea Giambruno.

Guido Crosetto, the minister of defense, Raffaele Fitto, the minister of tourism, Daniela Santanche, the president of the Senate, and Ignazio La Russa, the president of the Senate, are just a few of the politicians whose accounts were accessed.

Coviello is accused of spying on Al Bano, former football player Francesco Totti, businessman Lapo Elkann, and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s estates as well as Al Bano and former Italian Prime Minister Francesco Totti.

What kind of information was accessed and what was done with it?

Coviello’s position within the bank gave him access to clients ‘ information, including the times and locations of cash withdrawals, online and card payments, and bank transfers.

The information obtained is sensitive and could be used to gain knowledge of a person’s whereabouts, contacts, business dealings, properties and debts.

This kind of information could have been downloaded, saved, and sold to political rivals, business partners, and a variety of fraudsters who wanted to intimidate politicians and celebrities in any way. Investigators are still looking for information on the dark web to determine whether any of the information was actually sold.

However, Coviello has denied saving and sharing the information, arguing instead that he acted in the grip of a “psychological compulsion” for which he had sought professional help.

Whether or not the information was sold or otherwise made public is still a mystery.

Is there a police investigation?

Prosecutors in Bari have opened an investigation. The clerk is accused of using unidentified accomplices to violate privacy laws and pose a threat to national security.

Coviello most likely acted with someone else, according to Bari prosecutor Roberto Rossi, who requested his access to the files.

However, the clerk maintains that he acted alone. Police in Carabinieri, Italy, are checking his finances to see if he has received any payments.

After Banca Intesa Sanpaolo launched an internal disciplinary action that found proof of his alleged illicit activity, Coviello was fired from his position in August.

Why does Meloni claim that this is a part of a larger plot to expel her from office?

Meloni claims that the snooping was an attempt to derail her government, but the investigation is still a work in progress.

“The pressure groups don’t accept having someone in government who doesn’t bend to pressure and can’t be blackmailed, so perhaps they try to get rid of them by other means”, she told the TG5 news bulletin. But I’m concerned that they won’t be able to remove me.

The party’s leader, a right-winger, claimed that nearly all of the politicians whose accounts were accessed came from her side of the political spectrum.

If this was the case, it’s not clear. According to Italian media, the clerk’s search queries appeared to be random and had targeted accounts belonging to people of all political stripes.

Meloni claims that this is not her first incident that is part of a larger plan to remove her.

The Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate discovered that Antonio Laudati, a magistrate, and Pasquale Striano, an officer in the Guardia di Finanza, an Italian law enforcement agency that answers to the economy and finance minister, had access to documents from the agency without prior authorization.

The motives behind Laudati and Striano’s move are being investigated.

Source: Aljazeera