ATHENS – After Greece admitted allowing a company to sell Predator spyware to Sudan – after denying it was in use in Greece – Alternative Foreign Affairs Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said it hasn’t affected a civil war in the African country.
Speaking to Realfm, the minister insisted that, “The export license given to Predator and Sudan has nothing to do with the civil war. The civil war was not caused by this,” deflecting any blame.
After a Greek investigative journalist said the spyware was installed on his phone by parties still unidentified, the New Democracy government already ensnarled in a phone bugging scandal banned the sale or use of spyware.
But it had already been sold to Sudan and is capable of tracking a user’s phone and obtaining all the information on it, which for journalists could put them and their sources at risk from hackers.
The issue of granting export licences was first reported by investigative outlet Inside Story and the New York Times, prompting the European Commission to demand an explanation, noted the site EURACTIV in its report.
The major rival SYRIZA that will face New Democracy in May 21 elections in a rematch of the July, 2019 battle that saw the Leftists deposed, had asked about the sale of Predator.
European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said the Greek government has ignored its request for information about the sale of Predator but SYRIZA Members of the European Parliament are pressing for answers.
Earlier in April, EURACTIV was informed that the EU prosecutor had launched an investigation over the spyware, including export licenses and which countries had bought and were using it.
Two unnamed sources told EURACTIV that the EU prosecutor has, in recent weeks, received specific information from Greek journalists investigating the wiretapping scandal but didn’t reveal what it was.
“The persons who testified to the prosecutors submitted evidence proving that the administration of (Prime Minister) Kyriakos Mitsotakis facilitated the proliferation of Intellexa’s Predator spyware to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Madagascar, and Bangladesh by granting export licences through the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” one source told the site.
The EU prosecutor is examining whether the Greek government violated regulations for “dual-use” products (i.e. products that require a special export licence because they can also be used in order to cause harm) to favor Intellexa.
SYRIZA asked th3e government whether it allowed Predator to be exported to Sudan, the leftists Shadow Minister for foreign affairs Giorgos Katrougkalos, tweeting suggestions that it had.
“Has the New Democracy government sent the Predator to Sudan? Did they involve Greece, even indirectly, in the civil war in the country?” Katrougkalos noted before the denial that the spyware was being used to advantage there.
Fighting broke out in Sudan between army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is Deputy Head of the council.
Katrougkalos also cited an article by Israeli Haaretz suggesting that “Predator in the hands of the RSF will tip the balance of power in favour of a rogue former militia, bringing Sudan one step closer to open confrontation with the country’s armed forces and increasing the risk of civil war”.
Thanasis Koukakis, an investigative journalist targeted with Predator, said on social media that, “The tragic events in Sudan bring back to the fore how the Greek government facilitated the export of the Predator software with which the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were equipped”.
Renew Europe MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld also called on the European Commission to mount pressure on Greek authorities to provide answers as we can now see “tangible consequences on the ground,” the site also said.
Source : TheNationalHerald
