Nikos Androulakis is still looking for answers regarding who exactly was spying on him.
Androulakis, the center-left party PASOK president, filed a lawsuit this week seeking further investigation into who was behind attempts to infect his phone with Predator malware, according to Greek daily Ta Nea.
The lawsuit was filed with the Athens District Attorney’s Office against a man who allegedly paid for the dispersal of messages containing the links that would install the malware, or any other person involved in the case, asking that they be called to testify.
Thus far investigations into the sprawling spyware scandal that rocked Greece have not resulted in convictions. The deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court has argued that no state services or officials can be held responsible. Misdemeanor charges have been filed against executives from the companies that produced and purchased the Predator malware, but the case is ongoing.
The suit filed by Androulakis reportedly calls for further investigation, specifically regarding a person who the court reportedly identified as “directly involved” but never called to testify, his relationship to the companies that produced and sold Predator, and the Greek government.
The suit was filed just a week before the PASOK leader is set to meet with the prime minister he has often pointed fingers at in relation to the spyware scandal.
Anrdoulakis has previously claimed that prime minister Mitsotakis “methodically avoided providing explanations about the deep-state branch set up” of the National Intelligence Service, and stated, “I will not accept any cover up, the clock is ticking against him.”
The Spyware Scandal
The scandal now referred to as “Predatorgate” hit headlines in the summer of 2022, when first journalist Thanasis Koukakis, and then PASOK MEP Anrdoulakis complained that their phones had been targeted with the Predator malware.
It was later revealed that both Koukakis and Androulakis had also been wiretapped and put under surveillance by the National Intelligence Service.
Predator, different from the surveillance ordered through the National Intelligence Service, is an illegal malware. It infects devices when targets click on a link, granting the software access to every text message and call, and even activate the camera and microphone to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The spyware is developed by Cytrox, a company headquartered in North Macedonia, and is distributed by Intellexa, a consortium of companies with offices in Athens.
InsideStory investigations revealed that the link to install this malware was sent to targets in Greece via SMS messages to their phones, that mimicked the addresses of popular blogs. An ex officio investigation carried out by the Personal Data Protection Authority found that recipients of these SMS messages included former prime minister Antonis Samaras; The current Minister of Health, then of Development, Adonis Georgiadis; journalist and editor at Proto Thema newspaper Tasos Karamitsos; and Andreas Loverdos, then MP with the left party Movement of Change.
Greece’s Personal Data Protection Authority discovered three SMS farms that sent out phishing messages and identified more than 225 cases of such messages sent to 94 different numbers, which belong to 87 people in total.
InsideStory calculates that 27 of the at least 87 targets of Predator in Greece, had also been under surveillance by the National Intelligence Service.
The Greek government has repeatedly denied purchasing, utilizing, or dealing with any company that manufactures or supplies Predator.
Who Sent the Text Messages?
One of the three SMS farm accounts was paid for a person named Emilios Kosmidis. It is this account that sent the phishing SMS to Atonis Samaras, Nikos Androulakis, Andreas Loverdos, Adonis Georgiadis, Giorgos Gerapetritis and Thanasis Koukakis among others.
The Economic Police looked to locate Kosmidis by order of the First Instance Prosecutor’s Office. They did not locate him, and he was never called to testify.
Last month the journalists of InsideStory located Kosmidis by ringing the bell of his apartment building. He works as a butcher in a grocery store. He stated he was not aware of the wiretapping case, that yes he had once been issued that debit card, but had never funded it nor used it, and denied giving it to others. He said did not know that 500 euros was sent to the card that was then used to pay for the phishing messages. He stated he no longer knew where the card was.
Kosmidis was determined to be “directly involved” in the case but the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court never called him to testify.
This is the person Androulakis has filed a lawsuit against. According to Ta Nea, his suit states: “the defendant has been actively involved in the systematic unlawful surveillance of a number of persons (politicians, military, state officials, businessmen, journalists) through the Predator software, without excluding any further connection with the state surveillance (of the National Intelligence Service), allegedly for reasons of national security”.
The journalist Thanasis Koukakis has also filed a lawsuit against Kosmidis.
Speaking to Athens daily EfSyn today, Kosmidis stated no one had come looking for him prior. “I have not been bothered by anyone all this time. Neither from the police nor from the prosecution. Wouldn’t they have found me if they were looking for me?”
He also again denied any relation with the card: “I first of all didn’t know anything about this card, I thought someone took it. I’ve turned my house upside down and I haven’t found it. Obviously I lost it, someone found it and has done what he has done.”
