Greece's Phone Spyware Scandal Escalates: Court Proceedings Underway

Tue Oct 14 2025 15:12:16 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

As the phone spyware scandal grips Greece, the courts are now involved, with allegations of cover-ups and political implications looming large.

Greece's ongoing spyware scandal, dubbed the 'Greek Watergate,' reaches court as two Israelis and two Greeks face charges related to the infamous Predator spyware. Despite allegations against government officials, critics argue the lack of accountability reflects a cover-up by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' administration. The case exposes a culture of surveillance targeting public figures, raising serious questions about governance and citizens' rights.

It has become known as Greece's Watergate: spyware software and Greek intelligence targeted the mobile phones of government ministers, senior military officers, judges, and journalists.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called it a scandal, but no government officials have been charged in court, and critics accuse the government of trying to cover up the truth.

Instead, a low-ranking judge will on Wednesday hear the case against two Israelis and two Greeks allegedly involved with marketing spy software known as Predator.

What we know

In the summer of 2022, the current head of socialist party Pasok, Nikos Androulakis - then an MEP - was informed by the EU Parliament's IT experts that he had received a malicious text message from an unknown sender containing spy software.

This Predator spyware, which is marketed by the Athens-based Israeli company Intellexa, can access a device's messages, camera, and microphone – turning a person's phone against them.

Things escalated after Androulakis discovered that he had been tracked for national security reasons by Greece's National Intelligence Service (EYP).

Just a month after taking office in the summer of 2019, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis had placed EYP directly under his supervision.

His conservative government suddenly found itself at the heart of the crisis. The head of EYP, Panagiotis Kontoleon, resigned, as did the prime minister's top aide and nephew, Grigoris Dimitriadis, who was the liaison between EYP and the PM's office.

Predator had been used in attempts to entrap at least 87 people, according to the Hellenic Data Protection Authority. Twenty-seven of those under surveillance were simultaneously monitored by EYP, including serving ministers and senior military officers.

Despite criticism that the common targets by EYP and Predator implied a strategic surveillance connection, the government insisted this was a coincidence and that no law enforcement agency had ever used Predator, which was illegal in Greece at the time. A new law passed in 2022 has since legalized state security use of surveillance software under strict conditions.

However, the government did not address why secret services had spied on the Chief of National Defence General Staff, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Floros, and Kostis Hatzidakis, a cabinet member and now vice president of the government.

Was the government involved?

In July 2024, a report by the Greek Supreme Court concluded there was clearly no connection between Predator and government officials.

There is a prosecutor's report and the answers are clear. Justice has spoken. There is no doubt in what it said, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told reporters.

The four private individuals on trial in Athens are facing misdemeanor charges alleged to be connected with the marketing of Predator. Two of the accused are said to have ties with state officials, but this was never seriously investigated, opposition figures and watchdogs claimed.

What began as a political scandal has now evolved into an institutional scandal, tainting both the judiciary and the independent authorities, says Thanasis Koukakis, a financial reporter who was among the targets of dual surveillance.

The wiretapping scandal has raised significant criticism and concern regarding citizens' rights and government transparency, affecting the trust in governance.