Greek intelligence director resigns after espionage scandal

The director of the Greek intelligence services, Panagiotis Kontoleonresigned this Friday after the scandal over the alleged espionage of a politician and a journalist with the illegal computer program predatoras reported by the Greek Prime Minister’s office.

“Panagiotis Kontoleon, the director of the national intelligence service, has tendered his resignation… which has been accepted by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,” they said in a statement. The resignation comes a week after the revelation that the leader of the Socialist Party was being watched by the Predator spyware.

Kontoleon has resigned after admitting to a parliamentary committee that his agency had spied on Thanasis Koukakis, a financial journalist working for CNN in Greece, two sources present at the meeting said. The closed-door hearing, held last week, was called after the leader of the opposition socialist party Pasok, Nikos Androulakisfile a complaint with the superior court prosecutor for a attempt to hack your mobile phone with surveillance software.

On leaving, Kontoleon declined to comment to the press, although one of the lawmakers present, who preferred not to be identified because the meeting was private, said the intelligence director “absolutely admitted to the surveillance.”

The government spokesman, Giannis Oikonomou, told Reuters that Greek authorities do not use the spyware allegedly deployed in the Koukakis hack and do not do business with companies selling it. “The government has nothing to hide and has asked the justice system to thoroughly investigate the cases,” he added. “Without crossing to the extreme of technophobia, this type of malware does pose a threat and needs to be tackled effectively.”

It’s not the first time

In April, a Greek prosecutor launched an investigation into Koukakis’ claim that his smartphone had been infected by a virus. surveillance software and when the Greek media picked up the accusation, the leftist Syriza Party, the largest of the Greek opposition, called for a parliamentary commission to be convened to investigate the matter.

His request was rejected by the chairman of the commission, but after Androulakis filed his complaint with the public prosecutor’s office at the end of July, a request by both Syriza and Pasok for the commission to be convened and held for a hearing was accepted. Syriza has formally asked the prime minister to clarify both cases, which she says involve the use of Predator surveillance software, citing important issues for democracy and citizens’ privacy rights.

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With this illegal program you can extract passwords, files, photos and contacts and activate the phone’s camera and microphone, allowing you to monitor nearby conversations. In the audience, the now former head of EYPKontoleon, which reports directly to the prime minister, said that EYP does its work not only based on its own information, but sometimes after receiving tips or requests from foreign intelligence services, the two sources said.

Journalist Koukakis, whose work includes investigative reporting on financial crimes, remains puzzled by the reason for the wiretapping: “I’m surprised that areas I cover as a reporter, economic policy and the banking system, could be a threat to national security.” , has declared to Reuters.