Court to deliver verdict on spyware scandal

A GREEK court was due yesterday to deliver its verdict on an illegal wiretapping scandal targeting politicians, journalists, business leaders and senior military officials that shook the conservative government in 2022.

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GREEK Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, left, speaks with Chevron Vice President New Ventures Gavin Lewis, centre.

(AFP)

Dubbed the “Greek Watergate” by local media, it forced the resignation of senior officials in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s administration.

Four defendants - two Israelis including a former soldier and two Greeks — face up to five years in prison for violating the confidentiality of telephone communications. They deny involvement.

The sentences are expected to be suspended, to the outrage of lawyers for the victims. The defendants could benefit from a 2019 law under which breaches of the confidentiality of communications are classed as a misdemeanour.

The defendants include Tal Dilian, a former Israeli soldier and founder of Intellexa, a company specialising in the supply of spyware, which marketed the Predator software in Greece.