3 Greek Cabinet ministers also targets of state spying: Media reports

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA (AA) – In Greece’s unfolding surveillance scandal, which this summer led to the resignations of Greece’s intelligence chief and a top prime ministerial aide, it was not only the opposition and journalists who were spied on, but three Cabinet ministers and other prominent figures, local media reported on Monday.

According to reports in several news outlets, including dailies Ta Nea and To Vima and the website Insidereport, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis and two other Cabinet ministers as well as numerous businesspeple and political figures were also put under surveillance through physical means or Israeli-made Predator spyware.

These three Cabinet ministers were known for not having the “best relations” with Grigoris Dimitriadis, the prime minister's secretary general who quit over the scandal, said the outlets.

Dimitriadis, the reports said, was the primary figure in bringing Intellexa – the company marketing the notorious Predator spyware – to Greece from the Greek Cypriot administration, where the company was also involved in a surveillance scandal.

Yannis Economou, a government spokesperson, has rejected the reports as speculation.

He said the government had nothing to do with Predator, the software used to spy on opposition PASOK party leader Nikos Androulakis and journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

Earlier, Nasos Iliopoulos, spokesperson of the main opposition party SYRIZA-PS, claimed it will soon be revealed that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself was the mastermind behind the surveillance despite his best efforts to cover up his involvement.

Another major opposition party, PASOK-KINAL, argued that the scandal undermines public interest and Greece’s democratic institutions.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said the new reports confirm that state doctrine that “no one is safe from surveillance.”

In a related development, the European Parliament’s inquiry committee into Pegasus and other spyware, known as PEGA, will visit Athens on Thursday. The committee has reportedly asked to meet with senior Greek officials, including Mitsotakis himself.

- Surveillance scandal

On Aug. 8, Mitsotakis acknowledged that Androulakis, the PASOK leader, was wiretapped by the intel agency but denied knowledge of the operation.

The scandal unfolded on Aug. 4 when Panagiotis Kontoleon, the intel agency head, told a parliamentary committee that the EYP agency had been spying on Koukakis, the journalist.

The European Commission and European Parliament are closely monitoring developments related to the scandal.