ADAE is looking at more phones
The watchdog investigating the phone tapping scandal has asked for permission to obtain information about the owners of 30 mobile phones which were apparently utilized to make calls to cell phones used for eavesdropping, sources told Sunday’s Kathimerini. In what could be a vital development in the probe, the Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) has asked an Athens prosecutor for privacy laws to be lifted so ADAE officials can find out who owned the numbers used to call the eavesdroppers’ phones between June 2004 and March 2005. According to sources, the prosecutor has already requested this information from Cosmote and Vodafone, the two networks on which the 30 mobile phones were registered. ADAE discovered that text messages had also been sent from some of the phones. Sources said the watchdog has also asked for the details of 12 land lines used to call the so-called «shadow phones» which were used to spy on some 100 mobile phones, including the prime minister’s. OTE apparently already gave this information to ADAE for further investigation. The watchdog wants to know who was calling the «shadow phones» but also what calls these numbers were receiving in the hope that officials may be able to piece together some kind of pattern that will help lead them to the culprits behind the tapping.
