Greece’s Supreme Court has dismissed the latest lawsuits filed by PASOK President Nikos Androulakis and journalist Thanasis Koukakis in Greece’s convoluted Predator spyware scandal, known as “Predatorgate”.  

The latest lawsuits, initially filed in November 2024, were dismissed by Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Achilleas Zisis, on the grounds of insufficient evidence. 

The plaintiffs filed a suit against private individual, Emilios Kosmidis, on allegations of paying for the dispersal of malicious Predator spyware via SMS messages. 

The Predator malware can turn a victim’s phone into a surreptitious mobile surveillance device that can open every message, listen in on every call, and even turn on cameras and microphones and monitor a target’s every conversation. There are 87 known targets of Predator in Greece, who were sent a phishing sms message.

Kosmidis appears to be linked to one of the SMS farm accounts used to send phishing messages which contained the Predator software. As uncovered by Inside Story, one account paid for phishing SMS targeting figures like former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, journalists, and other politicians. A National Bank debit card issued to Kosmidis was used to fund these operations, although he denies using or funding it. 

The card was loaded with €500 in September 2021, €25 of which were used to send the bundle of phishing messages with Predator.

Authorities identified Emilios Kosmidis in 2023, but never located him to call him to testify in the case. 

InsideStory journalists located Kosmidis, and PASOK president Nikos Androulakis and journalist Thanasis Koukakis both filed a suit against him–such that he be called to testify and investigated for crimes against the security of telephone communications, high treason, and invasion of privacy–but also extended the suit to any other connected person may have had any form of participation in the case. 

However, Deputy Prosecutor Zisis concluded that Kosmidis had no direct connection to the case, as the prepaid card used for the transactions was allegedly lost and later activated by an unknown third party, stating he “has no connection whatsoever with the allegations, since a third party made use of the card and charged it.”

The Deputy Supreme Court Prosecutor ruled that the accused has no proven links to the companies that sell Predator, or any individuals within Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP).

Authorities determined the €500 were loaded onto the card with cash at an ATM in the Athens neighborhood of Agia Paraskevi, but stated they were unable to identify who deposited the cash as all CCTV ATM surveillance footage in Greece is legally required to be deleted after two months. 

Prosecutors failed to examine the full transaction history of the prepaid card, limiting their review to a short time frame in September 2021.

The deputy prosecutor ruled that the alleged offenses do not meet the criteria for espionage or felony-level privacy violations, stating that the evidence found poses no threat to democracy or national security.

The plaintiffs, Androulakis and Koukakis, argue that the offenses in question, including breaches of privacy and possible espionage, should be prosecuted ex officio, without requiring victims to file individual lawsuits. They also point out that Kosmidis, despite being identified as directly linked to the payments for the Predator messages, was never summoned for questioning until recently. His testimony, along with statements from National Bank employees, was accepted without deeper scrutiny.

Since the Predator scandal erupted in 2022, journalistic investigations have since uncovered at least 87 known targets of Predator in Greece, with 27 of them also placed under wiretapping surveillance by Greece’s National Intelligence Service. Although the Greek government has denied purchasing or using Predator, Investigations from InsideStory have found evidence that Greece’s National Intelligence Service acquired the spyware through a concealed contract worth €7 million.

Androulakis has accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of covering up the scandal, demanding a full investigation into state involvement. His recent lawsuit sought to hold accountable those responsible for financing and deploying Predator, emphasizing that crucial figures like Kosmidis had never been properly interrogated.

Four executives from companies linked to the Predator operation, charged with misdemeanor offenses related to violation of confidentiality in communications, are set to face trial on March 5, 2025. No government officials or intelligence agencies have been formally charged.