Italy spies did not wiretap, shadow judges - panel

ROME, July 12 (Reuters) Italian spies accused of snooping on judges and prosecutors at home and abroad did not appear to wiretap or shadow their subjects, the head of a parliamentary intelligence oversight committee said today.

The comments by Claudio Scajola, who leads the Copaco committee, seemed to play down worries about the extent of snooping triggered by a report last week from a top Italian judicial body.

The Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM), led by Italy's president, said in a July 4 report that spies with Italy's SISMI military intelligence agency had targeted officials seen as hostile to Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government when he was prime minister from 2001-2006.

The CSM did not accuse Berlusconi directly but the report gave fresh ammunition to his adversaries. Berlusconi, now leader of the opposition, has denied any wrongdoing as has the head of the spy agency at the time, Nicolo Pollari.

The results of the spying were collected in archives discovered in a Rome office last year.

The CSM said prosecutors' emails and movements were monitored, but Scajola suggested any such activity appeared to be limited, following Copaco's closed-door talks with SISMI's new boss and the Rome prosecutor investigating the archives.

Parliamentary committee president Scajola said from the information provided by the prosecutors, the results found did not seem to be based on phone taps, shadowing or spying on the personal lives of those involved.

The controversy is the latest headache for Pollari, who is already on trial in Milan on charges of helping the US Central Intelligence Agency kidnap a terrorism suspect in Milan in 2003.

Pollari denies any wrongdoing while in office, and has created a firestorm of debate by offering to tell everything he knew to Italy's parliament, if the government lifts state-secrecy restrictions.

Scajola said he expects Pollari to speak before Copaco behind closed doors in the coming days.

REUTERS AM RK2335