Former SYRIZA minister says he was targeted by Predator
Former infrastructure minister with SYRIZA, Christos Spirtzis, said he filed a criminal complaint with the Supreme Court on Friday, after discovering an attempt had been made to infect his phone with an illegal spyware in November 2021.
The former minister and main opposition lawmaker said he discovered two messages on his phone, one of which closely resembled the ones received by spyware victims Nikos Andoulakis, the leader of PASOK/KINAL, and financial journalist Thanassis Koukakis.
The first message was sent on November 15, after he had submitted questions relating to the surveillance work of Greece’s intelligence service (EYP). Four days later, he received a second message, which included a link that resembled that of newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton.
“This shows that some people desperately wanted to know which journalists and citizens I was speaking to and obviously also my conversations with the president of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, about EYP and the revelations that had been made those days,” he told journalists outside the Supreme Court.
Spirtzis said he believed his targeting is linked to his political activities as shadow citizen protection minister, responsible for issues relation to EYP.
The intelligence service is under fire after it was revealed it had spied on Androulakis and Koukakis over a period of two months. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he was not aware of the surveillance on Androulakis and has not commented on Koukakis.
Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee set up to investigate the phone tapping of PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis will begin hearing key witnesses on September 13.
