2023-05-10 11:53:56
Brussels/Vienna. The European Parliament’s review of the controversial Pegasus spyware’s use in various EU countries has been completed. However, the report is causing controversy. In its report on the Pegasus scandal, the EU warns against the business dealings of former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP). According to the news in the press, the former chancellor is mentioned eleven times in the parliamentary document. The European People’s Party is said to have demanded the removal of these sections.
Among other things, the report warns of the business relationship between Kurz and Shalev Hulio, co-founder of Pegasus manufacturer NSO, and US entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Thiel is the co-founder of “Palantir Technologies”, a company specializing in the analysis of datasets specifically for intelligence and secret services. In the report available to “Standard”, these relations “indirect but worrying links” is defined as. Kurz is also affiliated with an Austrian software company. A company called DSIRF also produces spyware.
According to ÖVP politician and investigative commissioner Lukas Mandl, the EVP now wants these sections deleted because they are “completely irrelevant”. Among other things, the text references entrepreneur Siegfried Wolf as Kurz’s economic adviser. According to the “Standard”, the deletion of this passage is also requested by the EVP. Until 2018, Wolf was chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian Machines company, which is attributed to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Rapporteurs are dissatisfied with deletion requests. In this context, it is stated that these points were not criticized during the 15-round negotiations on the final report.
Austrian-based software company withdraws
On Monday, it was learned that the controversial software company DSIRF, which is also mentioned in the report and described as “Austrian-based”, has withdrawn from the German-speaking region. The company had been on Microsoft’s alert list the previous year because the so-called government Trojan called “Subzero” was said to have infiltrated several law firms, among others. Thereupon, the State Security and Intelligence Directorate (DSN) launched an investigation. The activities are now suspended. Company management considers it unfair, especially since Subzero was developed specifically for use by authorities in the fight against cybercrime.
The discovery in 2020 that Pegasus was used in some European Union countries led to an investigation in the European Parliament. In the draft report of the Committee of Investigation (PEGA), which was made public in November last year “Governments of EU member states used spyware against their citizens for political purposes” was called. There were similar indicators for Poland, Hungary, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. (yenivatan.at)
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