Stolen data, cyber-spies had Eni's confidential files. The company: never knew

The offices in Milan, where Equalize, the investigation company at the centre of the DDA and DNA investigation into an alleged network of cyber-spies, have also been identified as 'Eni Spa confidential documents'. The company's CEO, former police inspector Carmine Gallo, has been placed under house arrest, while its owner Enrico Pazzali (video), president of Fondazione fiera, who has suspended himself. As we read in the papers, on the company's premises, in addition to 'a real 'police archive' there are 'numerous' deeds on Paolo Simeone 'a well-known Italian youtuber and contractor' but also 'confidential deeds' of the oil group.

This is what we read in a report of almost 3900 pages attached to the documents of the Milan DDA investigation. It is an element that demonstrates 'the web of service contacts woven over the years by Gallo, (former super-cop at the head of Equalize and now under house arrest, ed.) has allowed him to build relational networks in the Courts, at the judicial police sections, at the articulations of the police forces, with the intelligence, with high officials, magistrates and with numerous lawyers who, when necessary, are approached to obtain information on their clients'. The information acquired is transformed into 'dossiers', 'sold by the group to the companies concerned, but also to entrepreneurs and politicians at significant prices, even several thousand euro (15,000 euro is the fee for the most complete 'investigation' on a subject)'. These activities, it is emphasised, 'also make it possible to carry out a dossier on political rivals at every level, allowing one to 'put anyone in difficulty' with the 'clockwork' leakage of information (also concerning the private sphere) at the opportune moment'.

In a conversation of December 2022 "among the many picked up on the subject of 'Russia' and hacker attacks in Italy", the group at the centre of the Milan Dda investigation "discusses its intelligence activities on the subject and the revenue it can obtain from them, also in relation to a mandate that they claim comes directly from the Church". This was written by the Carabinieri of the Varese Investigative Nucleus in a maxi report. The investigators' report also mentions an 'activity of the group (according to some interceptions acquired)' that 'would appear to be sponsored by Ecclesiastical Bodies'.

In a strand of the Milan DDA investigation, Stefano Speroni, Eni's Director of Legal Affairs, is also among those under investigation for conspiracy to commit espionage data theft. This was reported by the Corriere della Sera and Repubblica, explaining that at the centre of this strand is a report drawn up by Equalize to 'put in a bad light' the oil entrepreneur Francesco Mazzagatti, by whom Eni considered itself damaged. Intercepted on 8 September 2022, Gallo and IT expert Samuele Calamucci spoke "about the Eni case, in which they were involved because of the dossiers on Amara and Mazzagatti that they had provided to the oil company". Speroni was reportedly searched on Friday and his phone was seized. "Eni was not (as it is not) aware of the alleged unlawful conduct attributed to Equalize as part of the investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office," the company commented to La Repubblica. In respect of the ongoing investigation, Eni does not comment further on the related aspects.

The company said in a statement that it was never aware of the espionage activity: "In the light of the information that is emerging as part of the investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, Eni reiterates that it has never been, and is not, in any way aware of any illicit activities conducted by Equalize on a national or international level", says a company spokesperson, explaining that it does not wish to comment on "details that are currently emerging in a totally decontextualised manner, and confirming that it had at the time given Equalize an investigative assignment to support its strategy and defence in the context of various criminal and civil cases, as well as procedural checks on some suppliers potentially of relevance in court". "There is no evidence of theft or missing documents of Eni, other confidential or commercially relevant information, or break-ins to the company's IT systems".