All parties deny illegal acts in phone tapping case
Testimony from dozens of witnesses shows no evidence that either Greece’s National Intelligence Agency (EYP) or the Greek police’s Counterterrorism Division acquired or used the Predator snooping software.
Judicial officials, headed by Supreme Court Deputy Prosecutor Achilleas Zisis, are still assessing the evidence from the large file compiled on the case of phone tappings, including the cellphones of several government and opposition politicians.
Zisis and two experts recently visited EYP, unannounced, to collect data. They found that, among the 116 cellphone numbers illegally tapped, 28 had also been legally tapped by EYP after prosecutors had approved the surveillance.
The experts have concluded that there is no evidence that EYP or the Counterterrorism Division had tapped phones in tandem, or collusion, with the companies or private individuals that had used the Predator software.
EYP officials, including its former director, Panagiotis Kontoleon, denied ever acquiring, leasing or using Predator in any shape or form.
Kontoleon also testified that legal tapping only takes place within Greek borders. Additionally, he said that his agency had not signed contracts with private company Krikel, which is accused, along with another firm, Intellexa, of using Predator. But he said Krikel had signed a telecoms support contract with the Ministry of Citizen Protection, which shares its headquarters building with EYP.
A former prosecutor dealing with EYP requests for tapping, Angeliki Vlachou, also testified that the intelligence agency had not used either Predator or other illegal spyware.
Another witness, former secretary to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his nephew, Grigoris Dimitriadis, denied any involvement, his own, or EYP’s, in the case.
Dimitriadis had resigned his position when his name cropped up as a beneficiary of illegal phone tappings. Kontoleon has testified that he never briefed Mitsotakis on legal tappings.
All available legal documents, including depositions, from the case are available at Kathimerini’s website (www.kathimerini.gr)
