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

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Uploaded: Oct 14, 2024

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says her opponents want to derail democracy – but is that true?

This is not the first incident that Meloni claims is part of a wider plot to oust her.

This year, Antonio Laudati, a magistrate, and Pasquale Striano – an officer in the finance police, the Guardia di Finanza, which is an Italian law enforcement agency that answers to the economy and finance minister – were found to have accessed files from the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate on the prime minister and members of her government with no prior authorisation.

The motives behind Laudati and Striano’s move are being investigated.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said these incidents raised the “strong suspicion of an attempt to alter the course of democracy”, but no such plot has been uncovered so far. . .

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

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says pressure groups are behind a plot to derail democracy that involves access to hundreds of bank accounts linked to high-ranking politicians and celebrities.

By Federica Marsi

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is at the center of a “snooping scandal” in which a bank branch employee at Italy’s biggest bank is alleged to have illegally accessed and “spied on” thousands of private accounts.
A clerk at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has been accused of gaining unauthorized access to more than 3,500 accounts belonging to politicians, businesspeople, celebrities and athletes, violating privacy laws and threatening national security.

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.

The long list of politicians whose accounts were accessed also includes Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fitto, Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche and President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa.
Coviello is accused of also spying on the financial affairs of the heirs of deceased Italian businessman and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as well as businessman Lapo Elkann, former footballer Francesco Totti and singer Al Bano. . .

Why does Meloni say this is part of a larger plot to drive her from office?

Meloni charges that the snooping was an attempt to undermine her government, but the ongoing investigation has so far not produced any evidence to back up her claim.
“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 afraid they won’t succeed in getting rid of me.”

The leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party said the politicians whose accounts were accessed were nearly all from her side of the political spectrum.
It is unclear if this was the case. Italian media reported that the search queries operated by the clerk appeared to be random and had targeted the accounts of people from across the political spectrum."