Wiretapping scandal: Four new investigations launched

A substantial portion of the case file concerning phone interceptions via Predator is being forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court, following a recent ruling by the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens.

The Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the 1,930-page ruling, particularly its operative part, which mandates that the trial records be transmitted to prosecutorial authorities in order to investigate additional offenses and the involvement of new individuals.

According to reports, it was then decided that the following aspects -forming two separate case files- would be referred to the Supreme Court Prosecutor, in line with the path of the initial preliminary investigation:

• The investigation of the felony of espionage (Article 148 of the Penal Code) involving the four convicted individuals, as well as third parties, due to the way the spyware operates—allowing remote access to logs and the extent of data that can be extracted—combined with the recipients of messages containing infection links to the “Predator” spyware, as noted in the court decision.
• The potential criminal liability for participation in the offenses in question by nine executives of the companies involved, as well as any other individuals who, according to the ruling, “were not merely operational instruments of the defendants, but had full knowledge and decisive authority over the operations.”
• The possible continued operation of the company Intelexa until 2024.

What will be examined by the Court of First Instance Prosecutor

At the same time, it was decided that the Court of First Instance Prosecutor will investigate the part of the ruling concerning the possible commission of perjury offenses, which will also be divided into two separate case files:

• The potential criminal liability of Stamatis Trimpalis for allegedly giving false testimony before the Greek Parliament’s investigative committee on September 22, 2022 (Article 224, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code), as well as the offense of incitement to perjury by the convicted Ioannis Lavranos and his associate Sotirios Dalla. Trimpalis, testifying in court, stated that his earlier testimony was false, explaining that he had acted as a “front man” on behalf of the convicted businessman Giannis Lavranos.
• The potential criminal liability for false testimony before the current court (Article 224, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code), concerning the testimonies of Sotirios Dalla and Aimilios Kosmidis—the butcher who owned the prepaid card used to pay for the sending of the infected message received by PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis.

Prosecutors who will handle the case files are expected to be appointed shortly, while proceedings are anticipated to move swiftly due to the risk of statutes of limitation—particularly regarding the potential criminal liability of company executives, a case that could reach trial as early as this summer.