Spain sacks spy chief amid Pegasus scandal: reports

Madrid, May 10: The Spanish government has fired the director of its top intelligence agency after the disclosure of the hacking of politicians' cellphones, El Pais newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The EFE news agency said government sources confirmed the dismissal of Paz Esteban after days of rumors on her departure.

Earlier this month, Spanish officials confirmed that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles' cellphones were hacked with the Pegasus spyware, which was only available to government agencies.

Catalan pro-independence leaders also accused the Spanish government of a mass surveillance campaign.

Esteban herself admitted in a closed-door meeting last week that her agency had legally hacked the phones of several Catalan separatists after receiving judicial permission.The controversy has sparked a political crisis between Sanchez's minority government and the Catalan separatist party ERC, which Sanchez's fragile coalition often relies on to pass legislation in parliament.

Esteban, 64, became the first woman to head the CNI in July 2019. She initially served on an interim basis and was later appointed to a permanent position in February 2020.

In 2017, Esteban's predecessor came under fire for failing to stop preparations by Catalan separatists to hold an independence referendum that had been deemed illegal by Spain's top courts.

What did the government say?

Robles said the fact hacks of government phones took a year to discover, "well, it is clear there are things that we need to improve."

Officials had said Sanchez's phone was tapped in May 2021 and Robles' in June 2021. The phones in question were work phones provided by the state.

"We are going to try to ensure that these attacks don't happen again, even though there is no way to be completely safe," Robles said.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska's phone was also among those hacked last year, government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said on Tuesday after all ministers' phones were analyzed.

"Since then there are no traces of Pegasus infections" of the phones of Cabinet ministers, she said at Tuesday's joint news conference with Robles.

Some Spanish media had pointed fingers at Morocco,which had bitter ties with Spain at the time. However, Madrid said there were no evidence to back the claim.

Source: DW