“I consider it extremely serious that in Italy there should be state officials who have spent their time breaking the law by making checks on ordinary citizens and VIPs at their whim and then passing the information on to the press,” said Meloni.
“Using public databases in this way has nothing to do with freedom of the press,” she added.
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-prime ministers Giuseppe Conte (and his partner Olivia Paladino) and Matteo Renzi, rapper and TV personality Fedez, football great Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, business group Confindustria chief Carlo Bonomi and League leader Matteo Salvini’s girlfriend Francesca Verdini.
He is alleged to have done so 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 journalistic purposes, while other data may have been passed on to a private investigator or used by Striano for personal gains.
A number of journalists are among 14 people under investigation in relation to the case.
National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Giovanni Melillo and Perugia Chief Prosecutor Raffaele Cantone are scheduled to report to Parliament’s Anti-Mafia Commission respectively on Wednesday at 4.30 p.m. and on Thursday at 10 a.m. on the case that has sparked alarm.
ANSA
