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 emphasized 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 Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Business Minister Adolfo Urso, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, LabourMinister Marina Elvira Calderone, Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, Silvio Berlusconi's former partner and MPMarta Fascina, ex-premiers Giuseppe Conte (and his partnerOlivia Paladino) and Matteo Renzi, rapper and TV personalityFedez, soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus coachMassimiliano Allegri, business group Confindustria chief CarloBonomi and League leader Matteo Salvini's girlfriend FrancescaVerdini 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 purposes.
A number of journalists are among 14 people under investigation in relation to the case.
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