At a time when government officials are accusing the European Public Prosecutor's Office of leaks, a very strange case has emerged showing the pathways between government figures and the police authorities responsible for implementing wiretaps in 2021 and 2022. Reports indicate that while the surveillance was supposedly proceeding normally, suddenly toward the end of 2023, the police authorities—and consequently the European Public Prosecutor's Office—stopped hearing anything from those they had trapped. This silence lasted for several months into 2023.
He informed them
What had happened? Well-informed sources report that a government official informed executives at OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid) that they were under surveillance, while other monitored individuals were simultaneously tipped off. So, what did those who were informed do? They kept the handsets they were using but switched to SIM cards that were not in their names, or used other methods of communication. It is estimated that this occurred in early 2023. At that time, coincidentally, there was a critical change in the leadership of the Hellenic Police. This explains why there were so many wiretaps in 2022 where no leaks had occurred, with Mr. Melas featuring prominently in those recordings.
Likely even earlier
However, it is not ruled out that information was leaked even earlier than the start of 2023, as high-ranking OPEKEPE officials suddenly disappear from the wiretaps around mid-2022. Meanwhile, recordings continue of low-ranking staff talking mainly with producers. There are also wiretaps of "unknown persons" who are clearly OPEKEPE employees; it is suspected these are staff members who changed phone numbers and thus cannot be identified, especially when names are not mentioned during their conversations.
History repeats itself
The same pattern seems to be repeating in the surveillance operations that began in September 2024. In a paradoxical way, a leak occurred shortly after the start, resulting in some of those "in the know" changing their tune in conversations. People who were previously doing "whatever it takes" suddenly appeared to be wielding the sword of institutional cleansing. Of course, in practice, they didn't actually target anyone significant; it appears the change in their rhetoric was not accompanied by substantive actions but was intended to disorient the European Public Prosecutor's Office. In any case, a major question remains as to whether the confidentiality of surveillance can be guaranteed by the prosecutorial authorities and to what extent tipping off those being monitored can lead to the misleading of judicial authorities.
Nikos Karoutzos
nkaroutzos@gmail.com
www.bankingnews.gr
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