The decision not to hold government agencies to account for their role in using the Predator spyware to illegally wiretap politicians from both the opposition and the government, journalists, government officials and entrepreneurs, was not unexpected, according to a Reporters United report, and offers coverage to PM Kyriacos Mitsotakis to whom the country’s National Intelligence Service reported.
“Based on the abundant evidence, it is undisputedly inferred that no government agency, and in particular the National Intelligence Service, the Anti-terrorist agency, and in general Greek Police or any government official, was involved with the Predator spyware or any other similar software,” said Georgia Adeilini, prosecutor at the Areios Pagos, Greece’s supreme court.
“Furthermore, there are at this stage sufficient indications to criminally prosecute certain legal representatives and beneficial owners of companies for wrongdoings, such as the violation of telecommunications confidentiality,” she said. The offenses are considered misdemeanors under Greek law.
Basically, the court implied that Intellexa, the spyware firm that produced and sold Predator, independently wiretapped journalists, ministers, prosecutors and tax officials in Greece. The four suspects that are likely to be charged are linked to Intellexa.
The U.S. sanctioned Intellexa in March for “developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts.” The firm sold Predator to governments and law enforcement agencies worldwide, including to several oppressive regimes.
Adilini, appointed by Mitostakis’s cabinet to that position in July last year, ordered in October that the investigation, until then carried out by the Athens First-Instance Prosecution, be assigned to the Areios Pagos, citing “delays” in the completion of the probe.
The reassignment itself raised eyebrows as it already followed the controversial decision with a rounded-up 60 percent majority of a parliamentary body in September to change the composition of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) while the latter was gearing up to fine intelligence service EYP for obstructing ADAE’s investigation.
According to an investigation by OCCRP’s Greek member center Inside Story, the Areios Pagos even failed to interview at least 27 witnesses, who had been placed under surveillance by the intelligence service while also being targeted by someone who used the Predator spyware. Among the targets were the former head of the Greek military Constantinos Floros and current minister Kostis Hatzidakis.
“The judicial investigation of the case is incomplete and superficial as tens of necessary preliminary investigations were omitted,” said journalist Thanasis Koukakis, Predator’s first reported victim in Greece.
“At the same time, the decision that there is criminal liability only as misdemeanors is absolutely misguided as it disregards the risks to democracy and national security, attested by the wiretapping of top state officials and codified by our criminal law,” he added.
His views were echoed by opposition politicians. In a first reaction following the publication of the Areios Pagos decision to exonerate the intelligence service, Stefanos Kasselakis, leader of Greece’s largest opposition party SYRIZA, said that his confidence in the country’s justice “was shaken.”
The decision confirms the “widespread impression of the Greek people that Justice is not the last resort of those done wrong,” Kassellakis said in a post on X, previously known as Twitter.
Nicos Androulakis, chairman of the socialist party PASOK, who was reportedly also targeted with Predator, accused Mitsotakis in an address to the parliament on Tuesday of a cover-up and said that the case evolved from a “wiretapping scandal” to a “cover-up scandal.”
