There rarely is a dull moment in Indian politics. The latest is the hasty attempt to hush up the bugging of the finance ministry offices. Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister himself has dismissed the episode as âbogusâ. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) says no such bugging took place. And Home minister P. Chidambaran, to whom the IB reports, says he didnât know about the bugging till he saw it in the newspapers last week. But the controversy refuses to die down.
According to The Indian Express which broke the story, on September 4, 2010, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), an agency that reports to the Finance Ministry, brought in a team of private sleuths to conduct a security sweep of the offices to check for eavesdropping devices. They found âplantable adhesive substancesâ in 16 locations in the office of the Finance Minister, the offices of his long-time aide Omita Paul, and personal secretary Manoj Pant as well as two conference rooms. Groove marks were found on the âadhesive substancesâ, suggesting that bugging devices were planted and removed later to wipe out surveillance trail.
Three days later, Mukherjee wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to launch a âsecret probeâ into the âserious breach of securityâ. He said no âlive microphoneâ or recording devices were found but it could have âwider ramificationsâ. The Prime Minister then directly tasked the then IB chief, Rajiv Mathur, to probe Mukherjeeâs complaint rather than passing it on to Chidambaram. The IB conducted its investigations and reported that there was no breach of security. A Home Ministry official told The Economic Times, “The IB probe concluded that the adhesive may just be chewing gum left behind by careless visitors or maintenance staff. The matter was subsequently treated as closed around six months back.” But why would any visitor or cleaning staff discard chewing gum or adhesives in a ministerâs high-security office?
The corridors of power are rife with conspiracy theories. Leading the suspect list is Mukherjeeâs political opponents.
Observers point to the simmering mistrust within the higher echelons of government. Given that Mukherjee wields a great degree of influence within the UPA, and is a strong contender for prime ministership after Manmohan Singh, perhaps someone within the Congress party wanted to keep a tab on him or pull him down a notch or two. Itâs not the first time that such cloak and dagger activities have come to light. In May 2010, Outlook magazine reported how senior leaders like Sharad Pawar and Digvijay Singh had been illegally tapped. Sources told the Outlook that during the July 2008 no-confidence motion on the Indo-US nuclear deal, bugging devices were used extensively to listen in on the conversations of opposition leaders. Years ago, Zail Singh, former president of India felt that the Rashtrapati Bhawan was tapped. He told Vir Sanghvi, well known columnist and former editor, Hindustan Times, that he made it a point to discuss sensitive matters in the garden. Key officials and journalists are on the governmentâs watch list and their cell phones are allegedly tapped regularly.
Another theory doing the rounds is that a business house had engineered the bugging. Sources told The Times of India, “There are many private sector players who could be interested. If they were aware of a particular meeting on a subject crucial to their bottom line, then a corporate could take such a risk,” he said. So if a corporate house was to “buy off a lower level staff”, these transmitters could be smuggled in. “And the easiest way to plant them is using adhesives,” he adds. But why would businessmen adopt such risky options when they can easily find out what they want through their informants in the ministry or political cronies?
Yet another theory is the involvement of the foreign hand. Agencies seeking policy-related information critical for their governments to gain advantage from Indian deals or projects could have planted the bugs. For instance, there have been periodic reports of attempts from China to access classified information. Last year, Chinese hackers tried taking over websites and email accounts of government officials. Sounds a bit farfetched though!
But thereâs not enough evidence to conclusively prove any of the conspiracy theories.
Asked if Mukherjeeâs office bugged, B. Raman, a former senior RAW official, told the Outlook magazine, âCircumstantially yes if one takes into account the important position occupied by him in the Cabinet, his important role involving sensitive discussions in his office on many sensitive issues of a political nature and the suspicion that there are question marks over his head in the Congress leadership. Technically, it would depend on where the adhesive material was found. If it was found at places easily visible to the naked eye, then the allegations may not be correct. If the adhesive was found at places not easily visible to the naked eye, the allegation will acquire some credibility.â
Had the bugging device been found, there would have been valid ground for the charges. With just âadhesivesâ stuck in 16 locations, thereâs no way the bugging can be proved or traced. A retired senior official known for his expertise in technical intelligence told The Times of India that as a snooping operation, it was poorly done. “There are far more sophisticated ways of monitoring,” he said. For instance, the telephone could have been converted into a transmitter, using laser beams. Solar-charged transmitters could have been planted in photo-frames etc. âAdhesives are used to stick transmitters that secretly record voice in a premise. It is then transmitted to a recorder kept at a distance. If this was the case in Mukherjee’s office, he may have been either a victim of a one-off snooping for a few hours, or sustained snooping over a long period of time,â the official added.
The speculation will continue. And weâll likely never know the truth.
One of the worldâs best-paid businesswomen hired private investigators to bug her estranged husbandâs ÂŁ2âmillion home, according to papers lodged at the High Court.
Elena Ambrosiadou is being sued for spying and harassment by Dr Martin Coward. The pair, who separated in 2009, founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds.
Dr Coward claims in papers obtained from the court that Miss Ambrosiadou hired a private detective agency called Kroll Associates to plant secret surveillance devices last December at his house in Steyning, West Sussex.
Separated: Martin Coward and Elena Ambrosiadou founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds
He alleges that Kroll employees entered his property illegally and left bugsand video cameras in the kitchen and the fireplace of his study.
He claims that they also planted a GPS tracking device in his car. The court document also alleges that Dr Coward was covertly followed by detectives from another agency who photographed his meetings with people in Monaco and Cyprus.
Dr Coward, regarded as one of the worldâs greatest financial mathematicians, is suing his estranged wife for breaching his privacy and his human rights, which guarantee him a right to a private life.
He is also seeking an injunction against Miss Ambrosiadou and Kroll Associates âto prevent any further similar activityâ.
Greek-born Miss Ambrosiadou, 51, and Dr Coward amassed a ÂŁ200âmillion fortune through the hedge fund they jointly founded in 1993. She took a salary of ÂŁ16âmillion in 2004 as the chief executive of Ikos, and last year spent ÂŁ60âmillion on the Maltese Falcon, the worldâs largest private sailing yacht.
Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed how Miss Ambrosiadou hired a glamorous undercover agent called Laura Merts, 37, to spy on her former portfolio manager, Tobin Gover, and to extract âconfidential and private information about himâ.
Mr Gover was among 12 Ikos employees who were mysteriously sacked in 2008 while Dr Coward was on a skiing holiday. Miss Ambrosiadou has agreed to pay Mr Gover âsubstantialâ damages.
After the sackings, Ikos was hit by scandals and setbacks. In late 2009, Dr Coward, who was chief investment officer, resigned, saying he wanted to set up his own hedge fund. The couple also separated shortly afterwards.
The court papers claim that the bugs in Dr Cowardâs home ârecorded a long conversation between the claimant [Dr Coward] and his mother in the study, in which they discussed a number of highly private, confidential and sensitive issues, including issues concerning the claimantâs business plans, investments and tax affairsâ.
Dr Coward also claims that his estranged wife hired another agency to spy on his movements between November and December 2009 in Monaco. Dr Coward lives in the principality with his 24-year-old Brazilian girlfriend.
He claims he was also subjected to a more intensive surveillance when in Limassol, Cyprus.
Last night a spokesman for Dr Coward refused to comment.
Miss Ambrosiadouâs lawyers said there has been no finding of wrong-doing against her and she denies any allegations of unlawful conduct.
An Ikos spokesman said: âWe are not going to debate an ongoing situation through the media. There are a number of outstanding criminal cases to be dealt with.â
Washington, June 3(ANI): Chinese hackers enjoyed months of access to the personal Google emails of senior US officials and human rights activists, according to a US computer security expert.
Google had on Wednesday said that hackers based in China tried to break into hundreds of Google mail accounts. The company later claimed that the hackers’ “goal” was to eavesdrop on the officials “to monitor the content of the users’ emails”.
The first details of the attack emerged in February on the blog of Mila Parkour, a pseudonymous computer security expert who found a “spear phishing” email on the systems of one of her clients, The Telegraph reports.he had alerted Google after which they made their official announcement.
An example described by Parkour appeared to originate from the US State Department and contained link to a document named “Draft US-China Joint tatement”.
In fact, when clicked, the link summoned a facsimile of the Gmail login page.he bogus page asked targets to enter their password, granting the attackers full access to their email account. Google said the attackers then changed settings so that all incoming messages would be forwarded to them.
The security breach was revealed as the Pentagon warned that the US might retaliate with military force against countries that sabotage its computers.
Google said that the latest attack was believed to have been executed from the city of Jinan.
China, however, claims that the hacking is not state-sponsored, said the allegations are “completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives.” (ANI)
The office of Victorian Deputy Premier Peter Ryan won’t comment on reports a ministerial adviser has been under surveillance by the police watchdog.
A ministerial adviser to Mr Ryan has been named in reports in The Age and Herald Sun newspapers as a target of surveillance by the Office of Police Integrity (OPI).
Mr Ryan, also Police Minister, is on compassionate leave from parliament and was unable to be contacted on Saturday, but his spokeswoman said the OPI operated without influence by politicians.
‘Matters to do with the OPI are strictly matters for the OPI,’ she said.
‘They have the powers they have, they do as they do, we are outside of that process,’ the spokeswoman said.
The OPI on Friday admitted they had Sir Ken Jones, one of Victoria’s most senior policeman, under surveillance following complaints.
A media report had earlier revealed the surveillance was underway, and Sir Ken’s wife and supporters had also been targeted.
Sir Ken had a rocky relationship with the police Chief Commissioner, Simon Overland.
Mr Overland forced Sir Ken to go on leave three months early after Sir Ken announced his resignation in May.
Victoria’s Police Association has said Mr Overland used his friendship with OPI’s deputy director, Paul Jevtovic, to influence the OPI to commence the investigation.
It is thought the ministerial adviser allegedly bugged by the OPI was a supporter of Sir Ken.
Chief Commissioner not keen to answer questions about OPI surveillance targeting Sir Ken Jones
ffice of Victorian Deputy Premier Peter Ryan is refusing to comment on reports an adviser to the minister has been under surveillance by the police watchdog.
Mr Ryan, also Police Minister, is on compassionate leave from parliament and was unable to be contacted today, but his spokeswoman said the OPI operated without influence by politicians.
“Matters to do with the OPI are strictly matters for the OPI,” she said.
“They have the powers they have, they do as they do, we are outside of that process,” the spokeswoman said.
The OPI yesterday admitted they had Sir Ken Jones, one of Victoria’s most senior policeman, under surveillance following complaints.
A media report had earlier revealed the surveillance was underway, and Sir Ken’s wife and supporters had also been targeted.
Sir Ken had a rocky relationship with the police Chief Commissioner, Simon Overland.
Mr Overland forced Sir Ken to go on leave three months early after Sir Ken announced his resignation in May.
Victoria’s Police Association has said Mr Overland used his friendship with OPI’s deputy director, Paul Jevtovic, to influence the OPI to commence the investigation.
It is thought the ministerial adviser allegedly bugged by the OPI was a supporter of Sir Ken.
