More politicians, journalists being monitored, Greece’s new intelligence chief admits

ANKARA

As the wiretapping scandal continues to shake the Greek political scene, the country's new intelligence chief on Wednesday confirmed that more politicians and journalists, besides opposition PASOK-KINAL party’s leader Nikos Androulakis and Thanasis Koukakis, are being monitored.

During a session of the parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee that gathered to vote on Themistoklis Demiris’ appointment as the new chief of the National Intelligence Service (EYP), Demiris said: “I have full control of the EYP for the last 15 days, no one is exempt, ” the I Avgi newspaper reported.

According to the report, his statements caused an uproar among the opposition deputies, who then asked successive questions. Demiris, however, did not provide any clarification or refutation to the queries.

Meanwhile, the governing Nea Dimokratia (ND) party accused the main opposition SYRIZA-PS party of leaking the minutes of the committee meeting to the media, in a move that breached confidentiality.

"SYRIZA's concern, as demonstrated by its leaks to friendly media that published excerpts of statements by its MPs while the secret meeting was in progress, was to construct a sick narrative,” the ND said in a statement.

It also blamed SYRIZA for distorting the answer of the intelligence chief to serve its narrative.

The SYRIZA, in response, maintained that Demiris’ remarks at the committee confirmed the party’s claims.

“We will not allow (Prime Minister Kyriakos) Mitsotakis to escape. We will demand that the perpetrators of the illegal surveillance, the former chief of the EYP, the nephew of the prime minister also come to committee. We will also insist that the investigation reaches the core of the case.”

Surveillance scandal

The crisis erupted as a parliamentary probe was launched after Androulakis complained to prosecutors about an attempt to hack his cellphone with Israeli-made Predator tracking software.

Former spy chief Panagiotis Kontoleon admitted before the investigating committee that the intelligence service was spying on Koukakis, a journalist working for CNN Greece.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has acknowledged that the agency also wiretapped Androulakis, but denied having any information about the illegal surveillance.

Kontoleon and Grigoris Dimitriadis, a top aide to Mitsotakis, have since been forced to resign.