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Four Israelis, investigated for spying in Romania
Four Israelis, including two former Mossad agents, are investigated in Romania for spying on the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, according to the Rise Project , Romanian investigative journalism team.
National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi on Wednesday dismissed as a "failed attempt" some intimidation actions against her reported by media."It is a case under investigation by another Prosecutors Office, in which I have no quality and currently I cannot comment. It was a failed attempt of intimidation," she said.
Sources said that an Israeli company has hired former intelligence agents to do this job on a client's order, most probably a suspect in a DNA criminal case.
"There were attempts of intimidation and harassment of the DNA head and people close to her," the sources said.
According to Rise Project, four Israeli citizens are under investigation by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) for spying communications and for attempts of compromising Kovesi.
Two of the suspects, former intelligence agents Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus, are co-founders and managers of the private Israeli company Black Cube, where Meir Dagan, a former director of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad from 2002 to 2011, also activated, says Rise Project.
The Embassy of Israel in Bucharest said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities are not involved in the case presented by Romanian media regarding attempts to intimidate head of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi by former Israeli intelligence officers, with the diplomatic mission stating that the investigation is targeted at employees of a private company.
''In connection with the situation made public today by Romanian media, the Embassy of Israel wants to clarify that the Israeli authorities are not involved in this case. We want to emphasize that this investigation is targeted at the employees of a private company which is not related whatsoever to any Israeli state institution,'' the Embassy said in a release on Wednesday.
The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) reported on Wednesday that Weiner Ron and Geclowicz David, two employees of an Israeli firm placed under preventive arrest in the case of harassment of the DNA chief prosecutor, had made multiple threatening phone calls and launched phishing attacks to steal information from email accounts.
According to a DIICOT release, Weiner and Geclowicz were remanded on Sunday and placed on the same day under a 30-day pre-trial arrest following a decision of the Bucharest Tribunal.
Weiner is charged with setting up an organized crime group, being accessory to illegal access to a computer system, unauthorized transfer of computer data, alteration of computer data integrity, and repeated illegal operations with computer hardware and software.
Geclowicz is also charged with setting up an organized crime group, being accessory to illegal access to a computer system, unauthorized transfer of information data, altering computer data integrity, and being accessory to illegal operations with hardware and software.
"In this case, there is a reasonable suspicion that in March 2016, two individuals holding key positions with an Israeli company with offices in both Tel Aviv - Israel and London - UK, together with several employees of the company, including the two suspects Weiner Ron and Geclowicz David, have initiated and set up an organized crime group with the purpose of perpetrating several offences, namely harassment and cyber-crimes, consisting of multiple threatening and harassment phone calls as well as of phishing attacks, with a view to stealing the access credentials and subsequently compromising the e-mail accounts, activities followed up by the violation of the correspondence secret, unauthorized copying and transfer of mail contents," says the DIICOT release.
Weiner and Geclowicz had precise roles and tasks within this group, the prosecution alleges; Weiner Ron, who has the necessary computer skills, was responsible for the technical and informatics part of the activity, dealing with the phishing attacks and the effective compromising of the e-mail accounts, whilst Geclowicz was in charge of previously contacting by phone the family and the people close to Laura Kovesi and getting the necessary contact data, namely the exact e-mail addresses targeted by computer attacks.