The Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office is investigating a new case of espionage and fraud worth millions of euros against the EYP and involving former Israeli officials.
According to the information gathered, in the fall of 2009, the Israelis allegedly pressured Greek government officials and officials to have Israel install a special system of "satellite" products in the secret services. The irony, however, is that criminal charges have been brought against former EYP officials in the same case for attempting to procure the exact same system from a company with Russian interests.
The relevant investigation is being conducted by the 3rd investigator, Mr. D. Foukas, who is dealing with a series of issues of political and economic interest, such as the 2004 wiretapping case, the activity of an expatriate from the US who is involved in investigated Israeli investments in Greece, etc. Mr. Foukas, as "To Vima" has revealed, has already identified a Greek-American CIA agent (originally from Karpathos) who organized the wiretapping system in the period 2004-2005, while he has gathered evidence about "controversial" Israeli investments in Greek Defense Systems, in Hellenic, in the Shipyards and elsewhere.
The background of the procurement
A new field of research for the judicial officer is allegedly the background to a procurement by the Hellenic Security Service in 2009. This involves the effort to install and operate a special satellite data analysis system within the framework of the Information Society (IS) operational program "Geographical information system for cross-border security during the movement of people and goods". The acquisition of the system began in 2005 with an estimated cost of 1.6 million euros. According to the plan, it would be financed at a rate of approximately 75% by the European Union through the Third Community Support Framework.
According to the "official" side of the project, "there would be the possibility of posting information on the Internet that would serve citizens who wanted to cross the borders, such as the existence of traffic at customs, weather conditions, etc. However, according to a statement at the time by high-ranking EYP executives to "To Vima", "the goal was to have better control of the borders through this satellite system as well as supervision in critical zones inside and outside Greece.".
The tender for the supply of the system was won by a Greek company that was collaborating with a Russian satellite products company. However, in 2011, a report was drawn up by the Public Administration auditors, according to which a series of irregularities were identified in the tender. Thus, after the elections in the autumn of 2009, the new management of the EYP requested the exclusion of the project from the programs financed with EU funds, while the criminal prosecution process against the EYP executives who promoted the purchase of the “Russian system” proceeded. At that time, secret service executives had argued that “the rejection of the Russian system was made after pressure from officials on Katehaki Avenue and other political actors”.
The new dimension
Now, the investigation of the 3rd investigator gives a new dimension to the case. Information from "Vima" reports that evidence has been gathered according to which "the rejection of the Russian system was probably due to pressure from former Mossad executives who were advisors to the Israeli government and who had relevant meetings in Athens with government officials." The Israelis appear to have spoken of the risk of espionage by "Russian satellites" and requested the promotion of Israeli satellite recordings.
At the same time, the same group of Israeli officials reportedly had contacts during the same period, in 2009, regarding other "investment" issues in Greece that were controversial and could potentially lead to criminal prosecution. The same sources report that the Israeli meetings were also arranged in 2009 by the aforementioned Greek-American agent from the US who organized the wiretapping system in the period 2004-2005. However, he himself pointed out at noon on Wednesday that he "completely ignores the reports of Israeli interest in the EYP system.".
Source: directnews.gr
