Greek PM, ministers had phones tapped for Olympic year

ATHENS - Greece has woken up to its own Watergate scandal with the realisation that the phones of the prime minister, most of the inner cabinet and dozens of VIPs were being tapped for the year of the Athens Olympics.

The scandal of the unidentified eavesdroppers has provoked fury and confusion in equal measure in a country that all but bankrupted itself in staging a safe Games 18 months ago.

Despite spending £800 million on Olympic security, the government spokesman was forced to admit yesterday that phone tapping "started before the 2004 Olympic games and probably continued until March 2005, when they were discovered".

Among those who had their mobile conversations listened in on are the country's most prominent politicians, top military and police officials, several Arab businessmen, journalists, a US embassy number and the Athens mayor.

What further angered Greeks was the admission that it was not the government that revealed the hi-tech surveillance system but a routine check by Vodafone, the mobile phone company whose software was hacked to set up the tap.

As Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis told a news conference, "Had it not been for the check it is very conceivable the wiretaps would have continued".

He went on to explain that the eavesdropping was made possible when spy software installed in the provider's central offices diverted calls to an array of mobile phones acting as interceptors.

Voulgarakis said that the calls were being relayed to unknown destinations via four mobile phone antennas.

The antennas all cover a zone in a small part of the Athens centre that includes the US embassy.

But the government has refused to speculate whether foreign agencies were involved.

But none of the three was able to offer any information as to who the perpetrators may have been.

"It was an unknown individual, or individuals, who used high technology," a spokesman said.

Opposition parties reacted angrily, saying the government was unable to defend national security or citizen's rights.

"This is the tip of the iceberg of the lack of transparency and decay," said main opposition party leader George Papandreou.

Yesterday's local media was full of questions about the handling of the case.

In their editorials, both pro-government and opposition papers raised questions over the lack of security provided to the citizens and demanded a deeper investigation into the affair.

The case has been handed to a public prosecutor for possible espionage charges.

The Greek daily Ta Nea, that originally broke the story, led Friday's edition with the headline "They destroyed evidence leading to the tappers."The paper was one of a chorus of local outlets asking why Vodafone Greece, a subsidiary of the British firm Vodafone, shut down the illegal software as soon as it was discovered, instead of reporting it to the authorities and waiting for further instructions.

The shutdown of the operation made it impossible for authorities to trace the taps.

The government has pledged that the inquiry will be full and fair.

"Due process has been and will be followed," said Panos Livadas, general secretary at the ministry of state.

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