The head of the Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) Andreas Lambrinopoulos said yesterday that an investigation into a phone-tapping scandal could not progress since the basic information had all been wiped out.

Lambrinopoulos told a parliamentary investigative commitee that the trail of evidence on the the scandal, which led to the tapping of 106 cell phones, including the prime minister’s, has disappeared.

“In our report findings, we said that evidence that was very useful had either been replaced or wiped out and we cannot find out basic details. Electronic traces of evidence are wiped out or changed easily,” said the head of the independent privacy watchdog.

Checks have also been completed on mobile phone company Ericsson but the watchdog could not determine whether someone at the firm had intentionally removed evidence that could have helped identify the eavesdroppers, according to Lambrinopoulos.