PM angrily denies spying allegations
Mitsotakis accuses opposition leader Tsipras of inspiring claim he had bugged his own ministers
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday vehemently denied allegations published in a pro-opposition Sunday paper that he had ordered surveillance on some of his closest collaborators and their wives, among other people whose phones were allegedly tapped through spyware.
“It’s an incredible lie,” Mitsotakis said in an interview on TV station ANT1. “It is a shame and a disgrace to say that the prime minister was spying on his ministers, on my foreign minister,” Mitsotakis said.
The PM attacked the publisher of Documento newspaper, Kostas Vaxevanis, who has often clashed with Mitsotakis in very personal terms. Vaxevanis is known to have close relationship with high-ranking politicians in the leftist opposition SYRIZA party, including the irascible MP and former alternate health minister Pavlos Polakis.
Mitsotakis directly attacked opposition leader Alexis Tsipras as having inspired the publication of the allegations. “Mr Tsipras is hiding behind Mr Vaxevanis,” he said.
The PM denied any role by state agencies, including himself and the National Intelligence Agency (EYP), which is directly under his supervision, but hinted that the spyware could have been purchased and used by private individuals. “I never claimed there isn’t a hub of private individuals using [the Israeli-made] Predator [spyware]… We are not sure who is behind this, but it’s not EYP and I was certainly not involved,” Mitsotakis added.
The prime minister added that the allegations will be fully investigated and repeated that his government will bring a bill to Parliament that, when voted, will explicitly ban the sale of spyware in Greece. “No other country has done that,” he said.
Mitsotakis brought up SYRIZA’s past allegations that 10 conservative and socialist officials had corrupt dealings with pharmaceuticals firm Novartis, allegations that were eventually thrown out, as proof of the opposition party’s lack of scruples.
Several of the ministers named in Documento’s story as spied upon by Mitsotakis expressed their incredulity at the revelations.
“I do not believe this happened,” said Environment and Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, who added that the newspaper story “contains names, but no evidence.” Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis scoffed at the idea that Mitsotakis would spy on his wife, as the story alleges.
