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

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says pressure groups are behind a plot to derail democracy that involves access to hundreds of bank accounts linked to high-ranking politicians and celebrities.

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?