Acrimony over wiretapping briefing
Androulakis refuses meeting with new EYP chief, claims ‘cover-up’ attempt, gov’t decries pettiness
The political acrimony over the wiretapping case, involving the bugging of the phone of Socialist party leader Nikos Androulakis, continued unabated on Wednesday as the issue appears to be heading for the Committee on Institutions and Transparency of the Parliament.
The briefing on the case of Androulakis was at the center of a fierce debate between the government and the PASOK party on Wednesday, with government sources attributing petty political considerations to its leader in an attempt to keep the issue in the news with daily statements in order to draw benefits for his party.
PASOK responded by leveling accusations of an attempt by the government to cover up the affair, while deriding the government as being hypocritical over its claim of an “all in the light” approach.
The government has repeatedly insisted over the last few days that Androulakis, despite having been institutionally invited by Minister of State Giorgos Gerapetritis to provide information on aspects of his case, has refused to respond. He also refused to meet with the new chief of the National Intelligence Service (EYP), who could also have informed him.
For his part, Androulakis reiterated on Wednesday that he is not going to accept an unofficial briefing on the case. “I will not tolerate ‘loss of’ or tampering with data. I will not play the conspiracy game with leaks about foreign countries,” he said.
“I request that the entire file be immediately forwarded to the Institutions and Transparency Committee and that the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy and the Hellenic Data Protection Authority be informed in the most official way about the reasons for the illegal and unconstitutional monitoring of me by the intelligence service,” he demanded, while also blaming the government for trying to incriminate him since, as he said, “they insist that it is my fault that I ‘don’t go to be informed.’”
He personally attacked Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the handling of the case from the moment it came to light until today, and made it clear that he will not enter into a verbal discussion with the authorities of the EYP, calling it extra-institutional.
The previous head of EYP and the general secretary of the prime minister’s office both resigned amid the scandal over the targeting of Androulakis, also an MEP, and a journalist with spyware.
