The Parliamentary Anti-mafia
Commission must be allowed to complete its investigation into
the case of alleged snooping by a finance police officer on
Italian public figures including many right-wing politicians and
celebrities before further steps are decided, Premier Giorgia
Meloni said on Tuesday.
"Right now the Anti-mafia commission, which has powers of
investigation, is working (on the issue)," said Meloni during
the signing of the Development and Cohesion Agreement between
the government and the autonomous province of Trento.
"We need to see how far the Anti-Mafia Commission is able to go,
then assess whether something else is needed," she continued,
referring to recent calls by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto for a parliamentary commission
of inquiry with investigative powers to look into the alleged
abuse by Pasquale Striano 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, while he was deployed at
the National Anti-mafia Prosecutor's Department.
Striano and 13 others are under investigation in Perugia in
relation to the case.
"It's also an issue of timing," added the premier.
"It takes a few months to set up a new commission. Today, we
already have a commission working on the issue and we need to
make it work as well as possible. At the outcome of the
Anti-Mafia commission's work, it must be assessed whether other
tools are needed," repeated Meloni.
However, the premier said that is it fundamental to "get to the
bottom" of the case.
"What is emerging is objectively incredible and shameful for a
State under the rule of law," she said.
The case has become political, in part because many of the
public figures allegedly snooped on are on the right of the
political spectrum, with the victims demanding to know if
Striano 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.
National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Melillo told the Parliamentary
Anti-mafia Commission in a report last week that 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.
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