http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_07/04/2006_68368
No answer on tapping
MPs reach dead end in probe into cell phone eavesdropping
A parliamentary committee examining the events
that led to the tapping of the mobile phones of
the prime minister and some 100 others found its
work stalled yesterday after it failed to secure
any new information from the heads of Vodafone
and Ericsson, the firms at the center of the affair.
Hinting at the panel's slow progress, its head,
New Democracy MP Anastassios Karamarios, called
for an end to the investigative portion of its work.
Karamarios said the group should wait for today's
second interim report from the Communications
Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) before
deciding what further action to take, if any.
His decision led to objections from the PASOK
deputies serving on the Institutions and
Transparency Committee, who claimed the
government was hindering a full probe into the affair.
Three key witnesses appeared before deputies
yesterday - the CEO of Vodafone in Greece,
Giorgos Koronias; the managing director of
Ericsson Hellas, Bill Zikou; and the director of
the prime minister's political office, Yiannis Angelou.
Angelou appeared before the committee for the
first time but told the deputies that his part in the affair was minimal.
«I had no involvement in the affair beyond the
meeting with Vodafone and... informing the prime minister,» he said.
Angelou had been the first government official to
meet with Koronias on March 10 of last year, when
the Vodafone CEO revealed that a number of the
Cabinet's phones had been tapped by unidentified eavesdroppers.
Angelou revealed that Premier Costas Karamanlis
had some 20 cell phones, two of which were on the
list of numbers being illegally tapped.
Zikou and Koronias, who appeared before the
committee for the second time, remained at odds
with each other as to whether Vodafone knew that
software to legally tap phones had been included
in the package supplied to it by Ericsson. This
software was hijacked by the eavesdroppers.
The disagreement between the two men prompted
several deputies to voice their objections.
«We are witnessing a theater of the absurd,» said
New Democracy MP Christos Zois.
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:26 CST