![Spain fires spy chief over Pegasus spyware scandal Spain fires spy chief over Pegasus spyware scandal](https://varindia.com/storage/news/uploads/2018/02/627b9e8f38147.jpg)
The Spanish government has dismissed its spy chief Paz Esteban amid a dual phone-hacking scandal involving Pegasus spyware. Last week, Esteban appeared before lawmakers in Congress to explain the case of spying over Catalan leaders.
Announcing Esteban's dismissal, Defence Minister Margarita Robles acknowledged that mistakes had been made. “Of course, there are security flaws and there will continue to be, because it's one of the prices we pay for the technology,” she said.
The National Intelligence Center (CNI) that Esteban headed has been under fire for reportedly using Pegasus, made by Israel's NSO Group, to snoop on leaders of the Catalan independence movement. She will be replaced by Esperanza Casteleiro, the deputy defence minister, who has spent 40 years working at the CNI.
The scandal prompted Catalonia's leftist pro-independence party ERC, an ally of Spain's minority government, to say it would not back it in parliamentary votes until it took measures to restore confidence. Patricia Plaja, spokesperson for Catalonia's regional government, which is led by the ERC, said that the CNI revamp was "insufficient" to restore relations with the government.
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