Justice Minister Carlo Nordio on
Friday called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into a
case in which an allegedly rogue police officer accessed the
anti-mafia database to compile dossiers on Italian public
figures including many rightwing politicians and some showbiz
and sports figures too in a case Perugia prosecutor Raffaele
Cantone said saw "monstrous" numbers of files gathered.
Nordio said he had had a meeting Thursday with Defence Minister
Guido Crosetto, one of the politicians allegedly snooped on by
tax police officer Pasquale Striano, and said: ""I believe that
at this point we can and must reflect on the need to set up a
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry with investigative powers to
analyse once and for all this deviation (rogue operations, ed.),
which had already proved to be extremely serious at the time of
the Palamara (magistrates) scandal and which has now become even
more serious, precisely because of Cantone's words".
Crosetto said he agreed fully with Nordio and said a commission
would be "a chance to probe the most significant and obscure
issues that have emerged so far, investigating the abuse of use
of databases, the rules that can permit controls, the existence
of a dossier-compiling system, possible instigators or
beneficiaries, and the necessary powers to defend the State and
enact controls to prevent the abuse of such tools".
Cantone said Thursday the snooping had not stopped with Striano
while national anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo said it
was unlikely Striano had acted alone.
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier on
Friday reiterated calls to identify who was behind the actions
of Striano while he was serving at the National Anti-mafia
Prosecutor's Department.
"I do not believe that a non-commissioned finance police officer
was the coordinator of this entire snooping operation," Tajani
told Mattino 5.
"He may have been used by someone who gave him orders. We need
to identify the cupola: was it a person, a group, and for what
purposes?" he added.
"Pasquale Striano worked in close contact with the National
Anti-mafia Prosecutor's Department, with the former Prosecutor
Cafiero de Raho, he conducted numerous investigations for him,"
continued Tajani of the finance police officer at the centre of
the probe by prosecutors in Perugia.
"We need to understand who gave him the orders and for what
purposes sensitive information was used. "Was (the information)
perhaps also intended to be a gift to the press, or could it
have been used by foreign services," concluded the minister.
The case has become a political issue, in part because many of
the public figures snooped on are on the right of the political
spectrum, with the victims demanding to know if Straiano was
following orders from above.
The finance police officer is alleged to have illegally accessed
the data of figures including Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers
of Italy (FdI) party bigwig Crosetto, Business Minister Adolfo
Urso (also FdI), Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida
(also FdI), Labour Minister Marina Elvira Calderone, Environment
and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Education
Minister Giuseppe Valditara, Silvio Berlusconi's former partner
and MP Marta Fascina, ex-premiers Giuseppe Conte (and his
partner Olivia Paladino) and Matteo Renzi, rapper and TV
personality Fedez, soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus
coach Massimiliano Allegri, Confindustria business group chief
Carlo Bonomi and League leader Matteo Salvini's girlfriend
Francesca Verdini.
He allegedly did this via abuse of the so-called 'SOS' system,
which enables officials to rummage through the information
stored on databases of individuals if the authorities receive a
report of a suspect financial operation by them.
Cantone, a former national anti-mafia prosecutor, told the
Parliamentary Anti-mafia Commission on Thursday that the
"market' for illegal access to State databases did not stop with
the Striano scandal.
"The suspicious operation reports (SOSs) market has not stopped
at all," Cantone told the commission.
"We have resounding proof: in the first leak (of information
about the probe), a reference came out to an SOS regarding a
businessman who reportedly had dealings with the defence
minister and that SOS had not been seen by Striano.
"So someone was continuing to sell SOSs under the counter".
Cantone said leaks to the press about the developments in the
probe were "damaging the investigation", saying he did not know
where the leaks were coming form.
He added that it is "necessary to restore truth and protect the
Anti-mafia Prosecutor's Department".
National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Melillo reported to the
commission on the case on Wednesday and said he thought it
unlikely Striano had acted alone.
"I believe there are many elements that conflict with the idea
of an action conceived and organised by a single, supposedly
unfaithful officer," he said.
"One of the central points of Perugia prosecutors will be to
understand Striano's person and system of relations," he added.
Prosecutors believe that some of the data allegedly obtained by
Striano was used for journalistic purposes, while other data may
have been passed on to a private investigator or used by Striano
for personal purposes.
A number of journalists are among 14 people under investigation
in relation to the case.
Cantone also told the Anti-Mafia Commission that his office
would examine the dossier Striano compiled on funding of the
League party during the allegedly illegal snooping.
"The activity (by Striano) on the League's funds will be among
the subjects of further examination," he said.
The League expressed alarm about the creation of the dossier on
Thursday.
"A dossier on the financing of the League ended up in the
drawers of the DNA (National Anti-Mafia Directorate), which had
no jurisdiction on this, and it was not sent to any district
attorney's office," it said in a statement.
"Why was that information collected and kept? In the midst of
the spy scandal, the mystery of this dossier it is yet another
disturbing piece of news.
"For years the League has been subjected to a defamatory
campaign (about its funding) which has been dismantled in court
after years of mud-slinging and ruined lives.
"The spy scandal confirms that it is a real attack on democracy.
"We will do everything to get to the bottom of it".
Cantone and Melillo on Thursday also reported to the
parliamentary intelligence service oversight committee COPASIR.
Leaving the hearing, Cantone said "I said what I thought was
right, the hearing has been classified".
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