Expanding scope of surveillance scandal investigation ‘supreme patriotic duty’ for Greek opposition

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - For Greece's main opposition party SYRIZA-PS, expanding the scope of investigation on surveillance scandal is a “ supreme patriotic duty,” local media reported on Saturday.

The party expects that the wiretapping scandal will help accelerate the collapse of the government for circumvention of democratic freedoms and authoritarian governance through opaque practices, according to I Avgi, a newspaper affiliated with SYRIZA.

The crisis erupted as a parliamentary probe was launched after Nikos Androulakis, leader of the opposition PASOK-KINAL party, complained to prosecutors about an attempt to hack his cellphone with Israeli-made Predator tracking software.

Greek spy chief Panagiotis Kontoleon admitted before an investigating committee that the National Intelligence Service was spying on Thanasis Koukakis, a journalist working for CNN Greece.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has acknowledged that the agency also wiretapped Androulakis, but denied having any information about the illegal surveillance.

Kontoleon and Grigoris Dimitriadis, a top aide to Mitsotakis, have since been forced to resign.

As the Greek parliament is set to begin debating the scandal next week, the report noted that the center-left party will insist on two main questions: “Is it true that the intelligence service leased the Israeli-made Predator spyware from a private person to carry out illegal surveillance?” and “how many more politicians, journalists and businessmen have been monitored?"

The daily, citing a senior party official, argued that the government, in collaboration with the mainstream media, is trying to divert public attention away from the scandal.

Louiza Razou, a member of the Greek Communist Party's central committee, however, stated in an opinion article for the Efsyn news outlet that the parliamentary debate over the scandal, set for Aug. 22, will not lead to significant revelations.