Israeli authorities raid Pegasus manufacturer NSO Group

Tel Aviv / Mexico City, Dt

Reports that thousands of people around the world have been spied on by Pegasus software have sent shockwaves through governments around the world. The controversy echoed globally, with Israeli authorities raiding the offices of Pegasus software maker NSO Group on Thursday. Mexico's top security official, meanwhile, said the country's two former governments had spent ૬ 21 million to buy Pegasus software in order to monitor opposition and journalists.

"Israeli authorities conducted such an investigation in our office on Thursday," said NSO Group, a manufacturer of Pegasus spyware. We are working with full transparency with the Israeli authority investigating the Pegasus espionage controversy. "Officials from the Israeli Ministry of Defense came to our office to investigate," an NSO spokesman said. We welcome their inquiry.

A company spokesman said: "We are confident that this investigation will bring to light the facts that we have always been saying. This investigation will also prove that there was no espionage from Pegasus. Not only that, the recent media attacks against us will also prove to be false allegations. Israeli authorities also raided the NSO group's office on Tuesday. Apart from this, an inter-ministerial committee has also been formed by Israel, which has been entrusted with the responsibility of assessing the reports of media organizations on the Pegasus espionage controversy.

Israel, which has been embroiled in a global outcry over the Pegasus controversy, said it would look into the matter very seriously, while the NSO group said media reports were "totally false and its theory is false." The use of Pegasus software is intended only to help government intelligence agencies fight terrorism and crime. The NSO group also said it did not identify the people whose Pegasus was used by its clients, but would shut down if any clients were found to have misused the software.

Meanwhile, Mexico's security secretary, Rosa Isela Rodriguez, said the 21 agreements reached during the reigns of Felipe Calderon, who was president from 2009 to 2014, and Akrin Pena, who was president from 2014 to 2016, were on record. Some contracts have been hidden by showing the purchase of other devices. The government said a number of agreements were signed with front or shell companies with the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, which were used to evade bribery or tax evasion in Mexico.

Shell or front companies are companies that are only made on paper and do no official business. These companies are used for money laundering. Earlier, a top government official on money laundering said last week that officials from the previous two governments had spent about કરોડ 500 million on spyware.

Santiago, head of Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit, said that between 2014 and 2015, former government officials spent કરોડ 500 million on government funds to buy "swireware" from Israel's NSO group. It appears that the 'bill' of programs such as Pegasus spyware includes extra payments, which may have been returned to former government officials in the form of bribes.

Santiago Nieto said the amount paid to the NSO and the manner in which it was paid indicate government corruption in a telephone tapping program that has already come under question. Journalists, human rights activists, and opposition leaders were targeted at the time, including current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his close associates.