ROME - The bank accounts of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and her sister Arianna Meloni, the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, Minister of Tourism in Italy Daniela Santanchè, and thousands more were illegally spied on, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano.

 The illegal activity was traced by the Bari prosecutor office to a former employee of Intesa Sanpaolo. The employee spied on thousands of accounts belonging to politicians, celebrities, and civilians. The Prime Minister commented on the scandal on X by stating ironically, “Give us our daily dossier today.”

 The unnamed employee was fired Aug. 8 after the commencement of the disciplinary proceedings. The Bari magistrates are still investigating the reasoning behind these illegal accesses. The access of the accounts dealt with sensitive and private information of the accountholders. Reportedly, the accesses would have been almost 7,000 made between Feb. 21, 2022, until April 24 and involved over 3,500 customers of 679 branches of Intesa Sanpaolo, throughout Italy.

 The accounts of the governors of Puglia and Veneto, Michele Emiliano and Luca Zaia, the public prosecutor of Trani, Renato Nitti, and of the officers of Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza, were all breached.

 By chance, the bank’s security noticed something was wrong within their system and notified the correct authorities. Now, the judiciary and Privacy Guarantor are involved in the investigation with a pending complaint from Intesa Sanpaolo.

 Intesa Sanpaolo stated that the employee’s behavior was, “not in line with internal procedures” and “sector regulations emerged during ordinary control activities including a complex system aimed at identifying any anomalous or risky behavior related to consultations carried out by employees. The systems “promptly adopted the appropriate disciplinary measures against the employee ", and the bank "provided information to the competent authorities".

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