The Chief of the Greek intelligence services, Greek National Security Service, Panagiotis Kontoleon and the general secretary of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ office Grigoris Dimitriadis quitted his job, on Friday, due to the latest controversial scandal regarding targeting the head of an opposition party and a journalist with spy software.
Kontoleon and Grigoris Dimitriadis, general secretary of the prime minister’s office, submitted their resignations Friday, the prime minister’s office said. Both were accepted.
The chief of the intelligence services resigned “following incorrect actions found in the procedure of legal surveillance,” Mitsotakis’ office said.
Although the Greek Prime Minister’s office didn’t give reasons for the secretary’s decision, an official told reporters that he stepped down due to “the toxic climate that has developed around him. In no case does it have anything to do with Predator (spyware), to which neither he nor the government are in any way connected, as has been categorically stated.”
Nikos Androulakis, the head of The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, filed a complaint to Greece’s Supreme Court’s prosecutors, claiming that his phone was targeted by spyware.
Androulakis said: “I never expected the Greek government to put me under surveillance with the darkest practices.”
He also asked the parliament to form an investigative committee to examine the issue.
The Spokesperson of the Greek Government Yannis Oikonomou responded that in case any of those requests were legally and officially submitted, “the government will respond positively.”
