The story of the hacked bank accounts expands: according to Bari prosecutors, the former spy banker “acted in concert” with others. In the meantime, Bank of Italy has asked Intesa Sanpaolo for clarification, which is now subject to a possible sanction for the security breaches.
The government ministers and several members of the majority unanimously denounce the affair of the violating current accounts by a former employee of Intesa Sanpaolo, who, according to an investigation by the Bari prosecutor’s office, spied on the accounts of Giorgia Meloni, her sister Arianna , his ex-partner Andrea Giambruno, but also other politicians, such as Crosetto, Fitto, Santanchè, La Russa, and sports and entertainment personalities.
The story of the bank accounts of spied on politicians
Almost 7 thousand accesses, starting in 2022, “all illegal”in violation of the rules on privacy and secrecy of hypersensitive data. It is not yet clear why the former employee of the Bitonto branch of Banca Intesa, Vincenzo Coviello52 years old, fired last August 8, committed these violations. Now the man is under investigation for unauthorized access to computer systems and attempted procurement of information concerning state security: judicial police officers appointed by the Bari Prosecutor’s Office have searched his home and seized smartphones, tablets, hard drives and computing devices. The man assured the prosecutors to have acted alone, out of mere curiosity, but according to the search decree of 10 October the now former bank employee was acting “probably in collaboration with and in concert with person(s) to be identified” presumably considered “instigator(s) of the unauthorized access”.
There are 34 political personalities involved in the illicit access to current accounts, which are being investigated by the Bari Public Prosecutor’s Office. The total accesses were 6,600 and involved 3,500 customers, including 43 other personalities known to the news, as figures from the world of sport, entertainment and more, as well as 70 individuals within the bank, in particular active in top and managerial positions. The spy banker also sifted through credit card transactions. However, no traces of these operations remained: Coviello himself admitted to having deleted everything.
Bari investigation, what do we know about the banker who allegedly spied on the accounts of Giorgia Meloni and other VIPs
In many cases, accredited sources explain, these are accesses that occurred only once and with an access and consultation time of a few seconds, a few minutes at most. No files would be downloaded. Furthermore, starting from October 2023, i.e. since the bank’s control system identified the anomalies, there have no longer been any accesses to the accounts of public figures. The other accesses concern natural and legal persons relating to the personal, local and professional sphere of the former employee.
The extreme ease with which Coviello had access to the accounts in question raises many questions about the bank’s internal security systems. So much so that yesterday the Bank of Italy asked Intesa “to provide clarifications on the incident and the initiatives it intends to undertake in this regard”. Intesa Sanpaolo now risks sanctions.
The accusations of the government and the majority
“A real attack on democracy”, defined it by the organizational manager of Fratelli d’Italia, Giovanni Donzelliresponding to a question about the alleged dossier in Matera. “The real problem – said Donzelli – is that there is someone in Italy who has not accepted having lost the elections. Someone is trying in every way, even illegitimate and incorrect, to try to influence or overturn the electoral result”, it is the accusation.
“In a systematic action of espionage and dossiers on major political figures, mostly belonging to a political party, it is clear that there is a strong suspicion of the desire to create an alteration of the democratic path”, said the Minister of ‘Internal, Matteo Piantedosispeaking at the Il Foglio party.
“Spying on bank accounts, credit cards, banking transactions means knowing everything about a person and their family. Everything they do, all their habits. It means knowing in which restaurant or pizzeria I could find them or where they will go on holiday It means knowing the children’s school, where the wife does the hairdressing, where the family does the shopping. It means knowing everyone’s intimate and private sphere. And we should all be condemned and scandalized of Giorgia Meloni and Guido Crosetto, regardless of whether they are Prime Minister or the Minister of Defense, pro tempore”, the Defense Minister wrote on “X” Guido Crosetto.
“As far as we are concerned – he added – we have other serious things to take care of, we have national and international problems that absorb our lives and our energies and we would like to at least have the serenity to do it as best we can”.
Source: www.fanpage.it
