Wiretapping case to reopen
A new judicial investigation, and possibly a parliamentary one too, are to be launched into a wiretapping operation that targeted top government officials during the Athens 2004 Olympics after a watchdog found that the original probe suffered from serious shortcomings. In delivering its report to Parliament yesterday, the Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) indicated that the original investigation, which was shelved in January 2008, had failed to obtain vital information and question key witnesses. ADAE found the National Intelligence Service (EYP) had not used all the technology at its disposal to pinpoint some of the equipment used to eavesdrop on conversations, including those of then Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis as well as more than 100 others. EYP’s search was also limited to the calls that were made during the period in question by then Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, ADAE said. The watchdog also reported that two key witnesses were not questioned by judges and that no effort was made to follow leads abroad. «Crucial technical aspects of the case could have been investigated more thoroughly if the probe had started straight after the discovery of the wiretaps,» ADAE said in its 11-page report. The authority’s head, Miltiades Papaioannou, suggested that a fresh judicial investigation into the matter should be held. PASOK MP Apostolos Kaklamanis suggested that since the judiciary had already failed to get results, Parliament should launch its own investigation. However, Papaioannou said that it was not simply a question of finding who was politically responsible but what actually happened.
