Privacy watchdog chief’s letter elicits gov’t rebuke

The initiative of the chief of the state’s privacy watchdog (ADAE), Christos Rammos, to send a letter Tuesday to the house speaker, party leaders and the justice minister, regarding the investigation of his agency into the wiretapping affair, triggered a sharp response from the government.

Government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou attributed the move to Rammos’ aspiration “to become a political actor in a sensitive period,” while referring to a “strange privileged relationship with SYRIZA and its president.”

According to reports, the letter said evidence was identified of legal surveillance by the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) following the lifting of secrecy for six individuals: a minister for the November 2020 – January 2021 period and five armed forces officers from July 2020 to May 2022. Their names are not mentioned.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is expected to name those listed in the report in Parliament on Wednesday morning.