Former Greek intelligence officer accuses Mitsotakis

The letter from a former employee of the Greek national intelligence service destroys the entire government narrative of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to which the prime minister was “unaware” of the surveillance of PASOK-KINAL president Nikos Androulakis and all the activities of the service.

An employee who was transferred to the police precisely because she complained to the management of the service about how her organization violated the laws, tells how Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who knew everything, turned the national intelligence service from a service of protection against external enemies into a tool for achieving personal goals.

The letter was posted on the website. Tvxs.gr:

“Hello,

My name is […], and I served in ΕΥΠ (the Greek national intelligence service) for fifteen years, including seven years as a representative of the service in an international organization. In January 2022, I was forcibly transferred by the current government to the Greek police, where from then until today I have not been entrusted with any duties, and I have not received a response to dozens of appeals to the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection and to the leadership of the Greek police.

As a taxpayer and citizen of this country, and in connection with the reconvening of the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions and Transparency on the issue of surveillance and general activities of ΕΥΠ, as well as a former employee who has performed his duties without fail for 15 years, I inform you of the following (for the purpose of Reality Debate Committee):

1. From 2020 to 2021, I submitted about 6 petitions to the leadership of the service about significant problems in the functioning and implementation of the existing legal framework. None of them were considered.

In particular, I have reported on serious cases of violations of security rules, the administrative law and the Code of Civil Servants, the rules of procedure of the service itself and others, including incidents of negligence and indifference of the management, systematically demonstrated in relation to the main object of the service and its image abroad.

Improving the institutional structure of ΕΥΠ (as the Prime Minister claims) is impossible, because simply in ΕΥΠ, under the pretext of “secrecy”, everyone does what they want. Nobody follows the laws. And those of us who pointed it out were fired.

2. The reality in ΕΥΠ from the summer of 2019 to the present is the same: there is no interest of the administration, and hence the government, in the tasks and goals that the service performs according to the law. In particular, the commander did not sign or take into account the vast majority of information documents prepared by the service, did not participate in multinational meetings, did not give any instructions and orders, and was generally “invisible”. I’m surprised he refers to “hybrid threats” because I’m sure he doesn’t know what that term means either. On the contrary, I believe that he was clearly engaged in other matters or seemed completely “alien” to the scope of the service. Didn’t the Prime Minister know about these things?

3. In July 2021, the commander transferred me and about 60 other people to a new unit, with no duties, no field of activity, no orders, no reason for existence. We did not receive any response to the out-of-court protest sent en masse by me and other colleagues. This was followed by dozens of letters to the leadership of ΕΥΠ within six months. No answer. The theater of the absurd continued until December 2021, and no one informed us about anything.

A female police officer was put in charge of the unit and told us to “wait and see” and after our mandatory transfer she remains the unit head! How much lower standard should there be for civil service in the world?

Didn’t the Prime Minister, to whom the service is subordinate, know about all this? Doesn’t he read the reports that are sent to him? Does he really not see how ΕΥΠ is degrading in the international arena and his image for taxpayers is suffering? Of course yes.

4. As the Prime Minister said, our country is facing geopolitical challenges. Yes indeed. And to bolster ΕΥΠ, the prime minister fires a geopolitics officer, moving him to an off-duty position at ΕΥΠ. Who can believe that this prime minister cares about this – he doesn’t care and has never cared about this. Otherwise, he would have told us that he would offer staff training and that he was looking for “creative suggestions”.

The creative proposal is as follows: train staff in geopolitical analysis – and this is what the country needs – with the money of Greek citizens, and then send them to EL.AS. Are you mocking us?

5. My colleagues and I have periodically received messages from unknown recipients, including threats, after the letter we sent to the Prime Minister containing links that we will forward to the Greek Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for investigation as part of the ongoing investigation about spying with malware.

6. The dramatic and highly unacceptable picture of institutional aberration and inefficiency that the NSI has fallen into is fully known to the Prime Minister. Moreover, as the legal adviser of the state stated before our lawyer and the composition of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal three months ago, “the dismissal of employees from NIS and a significant reduction in its staff is a personal plan and initiative of the Prime Minister.”

Everything that happens in the service is fully known to the Prime Minister. His devaluation is allegedly his personal ambition. For to discredit means to use the National Intelligence Agency for purposes not provided for by law.

7. For our part, we testified:

1. Complaint to the National Transparency Authority.
2. Complaints to the Data Protection Authority.
3. Report to the Chairman of the State Legal Council.
4. Prosecutor’s request to the Athens District Attorney’s Office regarding a case of violation of the principles of transparency, equality and meritocracy during our referral procedure.
5. Dozens of appeals (no answer) to the boss ELAS and Minister for Citizens’ Protection

In addition to the above, we have filed a motion with the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal to annul the unconstitutional and manifestly illegal translations. We will also appeal directly to the Criminal Court.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO TO RESTORE LEGALITY?

To the government and deputies of the New Democracy: Shame on you to lie and reproduce narratives, distorting reality. Rest assured that we will make sure that the real picture is fully revealed. A national intelligence service is a necessity to serve national purposes in a small country like ours and in such a precarious geopolitical balance.

Oppositions in general: I urge you to try by all institutional means to expose the reality of what is happening in ΕΥΠ, despite the lies that the government claims, to restore and improve its functioning, to ensure democratic control in all its aspects – there is no other way for this agency to in the long run it has been able to reach the level of similar agencies with which it competes. If there is no desire to create an ΕΥΠ, guided by democratic principles and protecting national interests, then simply abolish it.

I am at the disposal of the commission to testify on all of the above matters, with evidence and details, so that no one can challenge them as part of the favorite tactics of the government.

You are discussing the National Intelligence Service of 2022, and no other. This government does not have the WILL to change it for the better, as it preaches, simply because until the eavesdropping scandal was uncovered, they systematically took care to reduce it to zero.

Thanks“.

MPs will break their vacation to meet on Monday Aug. 22 as the government agreed to opposition leader Alexis Tsipras’s request for a parliamentary debate on the wiretapping case, it was revealed on Tuesday.

“The government agrees to speed up the opening of parliament on August 22 and hold debates during that week,” government spokesman Giannis Ikonomou said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an address to the nation, didn’t know about the fact that the leader of the opposition party PASOK-KINAL was bugged by the Greek intelligence services in 2021, adding that he would never allow this.

Scandal called “MaximGate” or “Greek Watergate”may eventually lead to the resignation of the Mitsotakis government.

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