Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-06

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Inquiry launched into phone-taps, Vodafone exec's death

[01] Inquiry launched into phone-taps, Vodafone exec's death

In charge of the re-opened judicial investigation is first-instance court public prosecutor Ioannis Diotis (shown left), who was also in charge of the investigation into the terror group November 17.

Costas Tsalikidis died on March 9, 2005, just a few days after a 'ghost' software system responsible for the clandestine tapping of 46 Vodafone mobiles, including those of the Greek prime minister and several members of government, was discovered in Vodafone's systems. His death also occurred one day before the security breach was reported to the government.

Syrros, who led top-secret police investigation into the phone-tapping conspiracy lasting 11 months, had attributed the 38-year-old's death to suicide in his last testimony to a public prosecutor, which is also the sole cause of death listed in a police report submitted at that time.

In charge of the re-opened judicial investigation is first-instance court public prosecutor Ioannis Diotis, who was also in charge of the investigation into the terror group November 17.

The public prosecutors' office announced on Monday that it would ask for the confidentiality of phone records and conversations by the deceased during the period in question to be lifted, as well as investigating press reports alleging that a Vodafone executive had been murdered.

An announcement by Vodafone on Monday, meanwhile, denied reports claiming a series of meetings between Tsalikidis and Vodafone managing director George Koronias in the crucial period when the phone-taps were discovered, as well as meetings between Tsalikidis and a series of other senior Vodafone executives.

The conspiracy and an unsuccessful 11-month probe to discover those behind it was announced by the government last week, following a front-page article that appeared in the Athens daily 'Ta Nea'.

In a lengthy press conference held by three ministers, the government revealed that the phone taps were discovered during a systems check initiated on March 4, 2005 after customers complained of a glitch in the system. The 'ghost' software responsible was then isolated by the multinational Ericsson, which had developed Vodafone's systems, on March 7, 2005.

An order to disable the software was given the next day, March 8, and the government was notified two days later on March 10. The company's decision to disable the software before notifying the government has given rise to much press speculation, since the government said that this hampered attempts to trace those responsible, or even the location of the 14 pre-paid mobiles used to eavesdrop on the phones being monitored, once it ceased to function.

According to Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis, the 'ghost' software was actually a legal but very costly 'lowphone interception' programme developed by Ericsson that had not, however, been purchased by Vodafone and had been activated without the knowledge of either Vodafone or Ericsson.

Also considered controversial was the government's decision to keep the investigation secret, even from the individuals whose phones had been under surveillance or Greece's independent authority for the privacy of telecommunications.

The 46 individuals listed as having fallen victim to the mobile phone tapping include Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, the foreign minister, defence minister, the public order minister, the justice minister, the deputy foreign minister, former PASOK minister Yiannos Papantoniou, the mayor of Athens, a few journalists, police officials, diplomats, defence ministry cadres and attorneys, as well as mobile phones belonging to ruling New Democracy party.

Other targeted individuals include a bevy of known anti-state, anti-war or out-of-Parliament leftist activists, a Greek-American U.S. Embassy employee, along with 11 individuals with Arab surnames, including a correspondent for "Al Jazeera" and a former correspondent in Athens for a Syrian newspaper.

Constantopoulos seeks Parliament briefing on phone-tap affair

In a letter to Parliament President Anna Psarouda-Benaki, the former leader of the left-wing Coalition party Nikos Constantopoulos proposed that Parliament be immediately briefed on the phone-tap affair and that a probe be launched by Parliament's Institutions and Transparency committee, as well as an off-the-agenda debate on additional measures that should be taken to protect against surveillance networks.

Earlier, Constantopoulos tabled a question in Parliament concerning the government's decision to by-pass the independent telecoms authority in this case.

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