Greek opposition party leader files complaint over alleged phone tapping

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) – The head of Greece's opposition socialist PASOK-Movement for Change party on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Supreme Court, alleging that his phone was tapped during the party's leadership race last year.

According to a statement released by his office, on June 28, Nikos Androulakis, who is also a member of the European Parliament, scanned his phone at a special service in the European Parliament where MEPs could check their phones for possible illegal surveillance.

“From the initial check made on the device, a suspicious link connected to the illegal Predator surveillance software was detected. Predator is a spyware surveillance tool that gives its operator full and permanent access to the target's device,” it added.

“Today I filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court because a few days ago I was informed by the competent service of the European Parliament that an attempt has been made to trap my cellphone with the Predator spyware tracking program,” Androulakis later told journalists outside the prosecutors’ office.

According to him, he received a text message on his device on Sept. 21, 2021, shortly before the start of internal party proceedings, inviting him to press a specific link that turned out to be associated with the spyware Predator that would infect his phone.