Former Pirelli boss sentenced to prison for spying on Dantas.
Italian courts sentence Marco Tronchetti Provera, former president of Pirelli and Telecom Italia, to twenty months in prison and a fine of 900 euros. The reason: in 2004, during the battle for control of Brasil Telecom, which was managed by banker Daniel Dantas, he set up an illegal espionage scheme that gave rise to Operation Chacal; years later, came Operation Satiagraha. A complaint from the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the whereabouts of 10 million euros that Telecom Italia allegedly used to bribe public officials in Brazil.
247 - The controversial Operation Chacal, launched by the Federal Police in 2004 against banker Daniel Dantas of Opportunity, is beginning to have its origins revealed in Italy. There, the former president of Telecom Italia, Marco Tronchetti Provera, has just been sentenced to twenty months in prison and fined 900 euros for setting up an illegal and clandestine espionage scheme against banker Daniel Dantas. With the data obtained, Telecom Italia managed to get the Federal Police to launch Operation Chacal, which, years later, gave rise to the also controversial Operation Satiagraha. According to the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, 10 million euros were allegedly used by the company to bribe public officials in Brazil.
Read below the news from the legal news website Consultor Jurídico about the conviction of Tronchetti Provera, one of the most powerful businessmen in Italy:
Pirelli's president convicted of corporate espionage.
From Conjur - Italian courts on Wednesday (July 17) convicted businessman Marco Tronchetti Provera, president of holding Pirelli, former controlling shareholder of the telecommunications operator Telecom Italia. According to information from the Italian newspaper. Corriere Della SeraThe sentence was one year and eight months in prison for the crime of data theft. He had also already been ordered to pay 900 euros to Telecom Italia shareholders for material damages. He will remain free pending appeal.
Provera was held responsible for crimes committed by Telecom Italia employees as part of a large-scale espionage scheme orchestrated by the company to spy on competitors in several countries, including Brazil. In February of this year, a court in Milan, where the case is being heard, condemned Seven spies were hired by Telecom Italia to monitor the activities of Opportunity Bank and its owner, Daniel Dantas, who was vying with Telecom Italia for control of the telephone operator Brasil Telecom. This is the story that became known as the Kroll case.
Italian authorities are investigating the whereabouts of €120 million diverted from Telecom Italia's budget and used for illegal operations by the company in several countries. The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that €10 million was sent to Brazil with the aim of removing Dantas and his bank from control of Brasil Telecom, a company whose shareholders included Opportunity, Telecom Italia itself, Citibank, and pension funds from major Brazilian state-owned enterprises.
Knowing he was the target of espionage by Telecom Italia, Daniel Dantas hired the private investigation firm Kroll. In Brazil, this hiring was the subject of Operation Chacal, a Federal Police operation accusing Dantas of spying on the Italian company and also on federal government authorities during Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's first term as president. In Italy, the case was reversed: Telecom Italia is accused of diverting money to spy on the Brazilian banker and remove him from control of BrT.
The decision on Tuesday holds Provera responsible for the theft of classified information that the spies convicted in February stole from Opportunity. The conviction from earlier this year is for conspiracy, hacking into a computer system, and disclosing classified information related to state secrets. The Italian court's assessment is that Telecom Italia closely followed the actions of the controller of a state-owned company that was about to be privatized and had privileged access to details of the deal.
Wanted by Corriere Della SeraTronchetti Provera's lawyers said they were not yet aware of the terms of the conviction, but assured that they would appeal. They consider the possibility of holding the Pirelli president responsible "inexplicable." They also stated that "it is necessary to verify why the sentence does not recognize the weakness of the accusation and, without providing any justification, casts shadows on the people and companies involved."