Checks show no wiretapping of government phones

Checks carried out on government telephone lines in the wake of a secretly filmed video showing a top government official having a friendly conversation with the spokesman of the neofascist Golden Dawn party have not substantiated fears of widespread wiretapping, Kathimerini understands.

The government ordered inspections on the secure phone lines between the offices of key ministers following the resignation earlier this month of Panayiotis Baltakos, the former cabinet secretary who was a key aide to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, after a video posted on the Internet showed him discussing a criminal investigation into GD with the party’s spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris.

The video rattled the government and led to fears of further revelations, particularly after threats by GD that there were more videos of conversations between the neofascist party and other MPs.

The fact that the Baltakos video was initially uploaded onto the Russian video-sharing website Rutube had fueled speculation about a possible cooperation between Golden Dawn and unidentified Russians, not necessarily Russian state services but other Russian interests.

Meanwhile, judicial sources indicated that a prosecutor investigating the Baltakos video is expected to call for criminal charges to be brought against Kasidiaris for making and using an illegal recording. The case file could go to Parliament as early as next week.