PASOK chief demands answers from Friday’s debate on phone taps
Opposition PASOK chief Nikos Androulakis threw down the gauntlet on Thursday, calling on the prime minister to provide clear answers to a series of questions during a debate on the phone-tapping affair that is due to take place in Parliament on Friday.
“I publicly invite Mr [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis to tell us tomorrow why I was a public danger. He has a duty to tell the whole truth to the Greek people,” said the socialist leader who recently learned that he had come under surveillance by the country’s intelligence service, EYP, after discovering an attempt to tap his phone.
Androulakis was speaking to members of PASOK-Movement for Change’s parliamentary group and political council, as well as other party officials, ahead of a debate in Parliament on Friday and a vote on whether to convene a House committee to conduct a probe into the matter.
“And if I was such a big danger as a European lawmaker, aren’t I a much bigger danger now that I’m president of the third biggest party?” said Androulakis, who is a member of the EU Parliament, and as such recently had a scan done of his telephone which revealed an attempt to breach it using Predator malware during the fall 2021 race for the leadership of the socialist party.
The PASOK chief went on to accuse the conservative government and the prime minister’s office in particular of seeking to make a cat’s paw of PASOK and “hold it hostage.”
He also lashed out at Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, demanding answers with respect to unsubstantiated rumors that emerged after the affair was revealed last month that certain foreign embassies may have had some hand in it.
“It is the moment of truth, without anymore fake leaks,” he said.
“I made it clear from the very first that the attempt to tap my phone with the Predator software and my unconstitutional surveillance by EYP is not just a personal matter, but is also a question of democracy,” he said.
