PASOK leader Androulakis demands Parliamentary com’t of inquiry into wiretapping issue

The leader of Greece’s lesser opposition KINAL-PASOK party, Euro-MP Nikos Androulakis, on Friday called for the immediate establishment of a Parliamentary fact-finding committee to investigate whether there’s political responsibility behind an attempt to install spyware on his mobile phone.

His demand came hours after the head of Greece’s intelligence service (EYP) and the general secretary of the prime minister’s office, Grigoris Dimitriadis, resigned amid stepped up opposition criticism and media scrutiny regarding the possible surveillance of Androulakis and a local journalist. Demetriadis flatly denied any wrongdoing and pledged to file slander suits in relations to several media reports.

The PASOK leader charged that the Mitsotakis government has attempted to “systematically downgrade the issue”, while adding that he “never expected the Greek government to eavesdrop on him with the most sinister practices.

He had previously filed a complaint with the Supreme Court prosecutor’s office over the matter.

Androulakis had his smartphone checked by European Parliament anti-surveillance specialists last September, amid an ongoing campaign at the time leading up to an internal party election to elect a new PASOK president. Experts detected a suspicious link that proved to contain a spyware or malware program. Androulakis said he never clicked on the link.