Greek Phone Spyware Scandal: Court Proceedings Unveil Allegations of High-Level Cover-Up
It has become known as Greece's Watergate: spyware software and Greek intelligence targeted the mobile phones of government ministers, senior military officers, judges and journalists.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called it a scandal, but no government officials have been charged in court and critics accuse the government of trying to cover up the truth.
Instead, a low-ranking judge will on Wednesday hear the case against two Israelis and two Greeks, allegedly involved with marketing spy software known as Predator.
What we know
In the summer of 2022, the current head of socialist party Pasok, Nikos Androulakis - then an MEP - was informed by the EU Parliament's IT experts that he had received a malicious text message from an unknown sender, containing spy software.
This Predator spyware, marketed by Athens-based Israeli company Intellexa, compromises a device’s messages, camera, and microphone – effectively turning a person's phone against them.
Following this, Androulakis discovered that he had been tracked for national security reasons by Greece's National Intelligence Service (EYP).
Just a month after taking office in the summer of 2019, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis had placed EYP directly under his supervision.
His conservative government was plunged into crisis with the head of EYP, Panagiotis Kontoleon, and the prime minister's top aide resigning amid the scandal.
Reports indicate Predator had been deployed in secret surveillance measures against at least 87 individuals, including government officials, raising alarms about potential abuse of power.
Was the government involved?
After the scandal emerged, the Greek government enacted new laws intended to increase communication confidentiality, raising concerns about individual rights versus law enforcement needs.
Critics claim there has been a lack of genuine governmental effort to uncover the identities of those responsible for unauthorized surveillance, particularly following botched raids on the offices of Intellexa.
Although a court has already proclaimed the separateness of Predator from government actions, public scrutiny remains as many believe the implications of the scandal extend beyond individual misdemeanors to systemic issues within Greece's political and judicial frameworks.
The spyware scandal has attracted international attention, with the European Parliament instating an inquiry committee, further pressuring the Greek government for cooperation and transparency in the investigation.
