Greek spying scandal getting bigger
According to a report by the weekly newspaper Documento, traces of the illegal spyware Predator have been found on the cell phones of 33 people including opposition politicians, government ministers and their family members, journalists and business people. The Greek intelligence services are under the direct supervision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This is not the only thing that commentators find suspicious.
Mitsotakis' paranoia
Investigative journalist and editor of Documento Kostas Vaxevanis comments:
“Everyone was under surveillance. Mitsotakis' political opponents as well as his own people, including ministers who didn't toe the line or were considered unpredictable. An information-gathering network aimed at political manipulation and blackmail lured the country into its trap and may still be in operation. ... In the mind of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the country lives in the dystopian virtual reality of ghosts. ... Everyone is an enemy, dangerous and clearly against him. Not even those closest to him are spared this paranoia.”
Pro-government media acting as if it's no big deal
The revelations are not being given the attention they deserve by Greece's media, criticises TVXS:
“The international media are republishing Documento's report on the wiretapping but most pro-government media are conspicuously indifferent. The exclusive report is presented as routine news of moderate importance, one of the many causes for the confrontation between the government and the opposition. One would expect the newspaper publisher who signed off the article to be passed around from TV channel to channel and from one radio programme to another for interviews. However not only is this not the case, the government's propaganda machine is portraying him as a fanatical political opponent of Mitsotakis rather than a journalist who has exposed a scandal.”
The scandal has taken on a new dimension
The web portal News247 is appalled:
“If the ministers were monitored with the prime minister's knowledge, this scandal takes on an unprecedented new dimension for a European country. ... But if they are being monitored without his knowledge, then the country is a wild vineyard where all kinds of spy software are growing. ... The government's belated promise to effectively ban the sale of illegal software is worthless. For so far it has done everything in its power to prevent this aspect of the scandal from being investigated. No investigation has been conducted into Predator's marketers, and the government majority has stubbornly refused to allow representatives of these companies to testify before parliamentary committees.”