A Perugia probe into alleged spying on
politicians and VIPs by a tax police officer is a "scandal" that
must be "cleared up", opposition centre-left Democratic Party
(PD) leader Elly Schlein said Tuesday.
"The illicit snooping on hundreds of people, with 800 illegal
accesses (into a computer database) is a scandal of
unprecedented gravity," she said.
Schlien underscored the need to "make extreme clarity" on the
case, and recalled that the PD has asked to quiz national
anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo and Perugia chief
prosecutor Raffaele Cantone.
"We must stop things of this kind happening again".
Finance police officer Pasquale Striano is alleged to have
illegally accessed the data of a wide range of public figures
including Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Business Minister
Adolfo Urso, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, 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, business group Confindustria chief Carlo
Bonomi and League leader Matteo Salvini's girlfriend Francesca
Verdini while he was deployed at the National Anti-mafia
Prosecutor's Department.
Prosecutors believe that some of the data allegedly obtained by
Striano was used for journalist 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.
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