SC registry officials, lawyers of key clients, old number of SC judge were on Pegasus radar: Report
New Delhi, Aug 4: Phone numbers of two officers of the Supreme Court's registry, lawyers of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and AgustaWestland case alleged middleman Christian Michel as well as an old number of a now-retired apex court judge were on the list of potential targets of Israeli spyware Pegasus, according to the latest names released by The Wire.
A Rajasthan mobile number formerly registered in the name of Justice Arun Mishra, who retired from the Supreme Court in September 2020 and is now chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, was added to the database of potential targets in 2019, it said.
Also, sometime in the spring of 2019, the telephone numbers of two officers from the Supreme Court's registry were entered onto the "secret list" that contained hundreds of numbers, including some which show clear evidence of being targeted with Pegasus spyware, the news portal said.
The two officers worked in the crucial 'writ' section of the apex court's registry when their numbers were added to the database, the report said.
An international media consortium, including The Wire, has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.
Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, union ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessman Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief, and at least 40 journalists were on the list on the leaked database of the NSO. It is, however, not established that all the phones were hacked.
The Congress and several other Opposition parties are demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the allegations and also asking the government to come clean whether Pegasus spyware was used or not.
The government has been denying all Opposition allegations in the matter.
When contacted by The Wire, the two officials from the Supreme Court registry one of whom has since retired from the court wondered why any official agency would view them or their section as a possible candidate for surveillance.
In the absence of a forensic examination of the smartphones of the two officers, it is impossible to establish if they remained mere persons of interest or were actually subjected to intrusive surveillance, it said.
The Wire, in its report, also said that earlier that year, two junior court employees were dismissed from service by then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi "for tampering with an order" in a contempt of court case against Anil Ambani of the Reliance ADAG group, "but there is no reason to believe" that the selection of of the two registry officials which came several weeks later, was linked to that case.
Ambani was also a potential target of Pegasus, according to the list of names reported earlier.
The Wire also asked retired judge Mishra if he had continued to use WhatsApp or other messaging apps on his phone even after giving up the number.
"The number is not with me since 2013-2014. I don't use this number," he said.
Justice Mishra also clarified that he had "surrendered the number on April 21, 2014".
Among the dozen or so lawyers across the country who appear on the database - some of whom are involved in human rights-related cases - are at least two who were representing high profile clients at the time their numbers appear in the list of surveillance probables, The Wire said.
Nirav Modi's counsel, Vijay Agarwal, was added to the database in early 2018, after he signed on his controversial client, as was a number used by his wife, the report said, adding that neither of their phones were available for forensic examination.
Another Delhi-based lawyer, Aljo P Joseph, added to the list in 2019, represents Michel, the alleged 'middleman' extradited to India in December 2018 in connection with the Agusta Westland helicopter deal case.
The forensic examination of Joseph's iPhone data is currently underway but Amnesty's tech team says that preliminary indications show a Pegasus-related iMessage lookup as part of the process of targeting, The Wire said.
It also reported that one of the numbers on the leaked database belongs to M Thangathurai, a junior lawyer working in the chambers of former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi.
The number was added in 2019, two years after Rohatgi demitted office as AG, it said.
NSO Group, which sells Pegasus to select governments, says the company and its clients are not connected to the database in any way.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
