Deutsche Telekom Probes Call-Monitoring Allegations

May 26, 2008 10:57 a.m. EST

Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) - German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom revealed over the weekend that the firm may have illegally examined phone records of business journalists, board members and shareholders.

On Monday, the authorities in Germany are looking into allegations that the company monitored phone traffics to uncover sources of information leaks.

"This is a breach of our data privacy laws. Cases of misconduct must be clarified," CEO Rene Obermann, who assured Telekom customers that their phone records would remain confidential, was quoted saying by Deutsche Welle.

"The billing records of our millions of fixed-line and mobile customers remain secure," he continued, adding that he has faith in Telekom's 240,000 employees.

The company revealed it has got reports on the possibility of "illegal use" of wireless and fixed-line telecommunications data in 2005 and 2006.

The alleged misconduct came to light after a fax arrived at the company's headquarters in Bonn about four weeks ago.

Several thousands of phone calls made by top management and supervisory board members were monitored, but none of were tapped nor misused by an unidentified consultancy in Berlin, according to the firm.

The company indicated on Monday that the case has been referred to German state prosecutors, who have already started a preliminary probe in to the allegations.

"I am shaken to the core by these allegations. We take the situation most seriously," Obermann in a statement, according to MarketWatch.

The alleged misconduct happened during Obermann's predecessors Kai-Uwe Ricke and Kai-Uwe Ricke over the period of one year from 2005.

Shares of Deutsche Telekom gained by 1.2 percent in Frankfurt, unaffected by the news on alleged misconduct.