Sonera defendants deny deliberate violation of telecommunications privacy

All eight defendants facing charges related to the suspected illegal tracing of mobile telephone calls at the telecommunications service provider Sonera have denied violating anyone's communications privacy. Police suspect that members of the top management of Sonera had authorised the company's security department to illegally examine the mobile telephone records of employees to find the sources of leaks of information on Sonera activities to the press. On Monday, the first day of the trial, it came out that telecommunications information had been looked into by Sonera. The trial continues on Tuesday, at which time the prosecution will present further details of its case. The police investigation material that was made public on Monday gives a rough idea of why Sonera sought to trace communications between various people. At least five motives were revealed. Sonera's top management allegedly wanted to find out journalists' sources of information about the company, communication between Sonera's board of directors and managers, contacts made by former managers who had left the company, and the movements of a former manager who was trying to avoid being served by a subpoena. In addition, the security department of Sonera is said to have supplied the National Bureau of Investigation, the Security Police, and Helsinki police with unauthorised information.