Gov't: Unprecedented mobile phone-tapping plot uncovered
The government on Thursday confirmed that year-long investigation is focusing on a mobile phone-tapping plot that targeted the prime minister himself, high-ranking ministers and well-known business leaders. A trio of the government's top ministers, in fact, was holding a nationally televised press conference at press time to answer questions over the unprecedented affair. News of the investigation was the object of a front-page article in the Athens daily "Ta Nea" on Thursday. Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos along with Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis and Justice Minister Anastasis Papaligouras told reporters that 14 pre-paid cell phones, all operating in the Vodafone Hellas network, monitored mobile phone conversations of the targeted individuals. Additionally, what the ministers referred to as a "phantom software" was located by the company and the multinational Ericsson in former's system, before it was disabled on March 7, 2005. According to the government, some 100 mobile phone numbers were being monitored before the 2004 Olympic Games of Athens until early March 2005.
