Greek prosecutors probing a wire-tapping scandal that has piled pressure on the government have requested judicial cooperation from the United States, a legal source said Tuesday.
The assistance has been requested because “suspicious SMS (text messages on mobile phones of people surveilled) are suspected to have been sent from the United States”, the source said.
The Greek supreme court opened the investigation several days after Nikos Androulakis — a European Parliament lawmaker and leader of the Greek Socialist party (Pasok/Kinal) — filed a legal complaint alleging there had been attempts to tap his mobile phone using illegal spyware known as Predator.
Within days, it emerged that Androulakis had also been under surveillance, separately, from the Greek intelligence service before he became leader of Pasok, Greece’s third largest party.
Two Greek journalists had also claimed to have been under surveillance.
The Greek government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has admitted that state intelligence monitored Androulakis, without disclosing the reason.
But the government has flatly denied using illegal surveillance software.
So far, the judicial investigation and a parliamentary inquiry have not shed any light on the matter.
The government has also strongly denied a succession of news reports that dozens of prominent Greeks were under surveillance too, including former premier Antonis Samaras, several serving cabinet ministers, military chiefs, media owners and journalists.
