How did a ‘bank snooping’ scandal ensnare politicians in Italy?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is at the centre of a “snooping scandal” in which a bank branch employee at Italy’s biggest bank is alleged to have illegally accessed and “spied on” thousands of private accounts.

A clerk at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has been accused of gaining unauthorised access to more than 3,500 accounts belonging to politicians, businesspeople, celebrities and athletes, violating privacy laws and threatening national security.

The bank clerk, Vincenzo Coviello, 52, said he was motivated by “curiosity” and was frustrated in his career. He told authorities he did not keep a record of the bank activity he had access to – which reveals the client’s whereabouts and other sensitive data – and denied sharing the information with anyone.

Meloni, however, has turned the incident into a national scandal, saying “pressure groups” seeking to drive her from office and to interfere with democracy were really behind Coviello’s actions.

So what really happened?

Coviello, a clerk at a branch in Bisceglie in the Apulia region of southern Italy, began his alleged spying activity in February 2022. For more than two years, he illegally accessed clients’ personal accounts 6,976 times, according to a police investigation.

His targets allegedly included Meloni; her sister Arianna, the coordinator of the secretariat of the governing party, Brothers of Italy; and the prime minister’s former partner Andrea Giambruno.

The long list of politicians whose accounts were accessed also includes Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fitto, Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche and President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa.

Coviello is accused of also spying on the financial affairs of the heirs of deceased Italian businessman and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as well as businessman Lapo Elkann, former footballer Francesco Totti and singer Al Bano.