Androulakis: Wiretapping bill does ‘not get to the heart’ of the problem

Socialist opposition leader Nikos Androulakis said on Monday a draft legislation that would update the procedures Greece’s intelligence service (EYP) is required to take to wiretap citizens offers some positive changes but does not touch the inherent problems of the current system.

“There is still no element of accountability, for a case that brutally damages the credibility of our institutions and discredits the country internationally,” Androulakis, himself the target of surveillance by both EYP and illegal spyware, told journalists at a press conference called to comment on the bill. 

The draft legislation includes a provision allowing the person whose communications confidentiality is affected for reasons of national security to be briefed, but only three years after the fact and provided that the revelation does not negatively impact state security. Furthermore, the authority to announce the surveillance to the person affected is taken away from ADAE, the independent watchdog on communication privacy, and given to a three-member body made up by the head of Greece’s intelligence agency (EYP), the agency’s prosecutor – the two officials who ordered and approved the surveillance – and the head of ADAE. Similarly, the application requesting to be informed about a possible wiretapping will no longer be submitted to ADAE, but to the prosecutor of EYP or the Hellenic Police’s Directorate for Dealing with Special Violent Crimes. 

Androulakis, leader of center-left PASOK/KINAL party, criticized the sidelining of ADAE, adding that the authority to inform citizens targeted by the intelligence agency should return to the independent watchdog, with retroactive effect. He also recommended repealing a decision by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to bring EYP under his direct control when he took office three years ago. 

The government admitted in August that EYP has snooped on Androulakis for reasons of “national security” but did not reveal what prompted the action. The leader of PASOK/KINAL also revealed last July that there had been an attempt to hack his phone with Predator, an illegal surveillance software which allows the hacker full and constant access to the target’s mobile device, including passwords, photo and contact folders, web browsing history, text messages, voicemail, keystrokes and more.

Androulakis also called on judicial authorities to speed up the investigation into the attempted hacking of his phone. The inquiry started after he filed a complaint with the Supreme Court Prosecutors’ Office on July 28.

The draft bill upgrades the use of illegal spyware to a felony from a misdemeanor. The state can still purchase spyware, but procedures are tightened and made more transparent. The acquisition must be announced by ministerial decree and approved by the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court. The National Intelligence Service can no longer buy spyware on its own.

The agency itself can only be led by a director who is either an active or retired senior diplomat or high-ranking officer. This would preclude the appointment of people such as Panagiotis Kontoleon, a security firm executive, who was made director days after the present conservative government came to power in 2019 and who resigned in the wake of the wiretapping scandal along with Mitsotakis’ secretary-general and nephew, Grigoris Dimitriadis.