After Kyriakos Mitsotakis became prime minister on 8 July 2019, Greece placed the National Intelligence Service (EYP) under his direct control and political responsibility was assigned to his nephew, Grigoris Dimitriadis. Investigations later identified 220 SMS messages containing Predator spyware links sent to 92 smartphones, including those of opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, journalists Thanassis Koukakis and Stavros Michaloudis, ministers, military officials, prosecutors, business figures and Meta security executive Artemis Seaford. Citizen Lab confirmed Predator infection on Koukakis’s phone in March 2022 and on Seaford’s phone for at least two months beginning in September 2021. Some messages used precise COVID-19 vaccination appointment data, indicating access to sensitive personal information.
The scandal became public in July 2022 after Androulakis reported an attempted infection. EYP chief Panagiotis Kontoleon and Dimitriadis resigned on 5 August 2022, while Mitsotakis denied knowing about Androulakis’s surveillance. Greece’s independent privacy authority, ADAE, later confirmed EYP surveillance of officials including Labour Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and military chief Konstantinos Floros. The European Parliament’s 8 May 2023 report found violations of EU law and urged an independent investigation, stronger safeguards and scrutiny of spyware export licences, including one for Sudan. In February 2026, a Greek court sentenced four people, including two Israeli nationals, to eight years for illegal Predator use, although the source does not establish a final judicial finding that the prime minister personally ordered the targeting.
