Greek court to deliver verdict on 2022 spyware scandal involving Israeli defendants

A Greek court is due to deliver its verdict on an illegal wiretapping scandal targeting politicians, journalists, business leaders and senior military officials that shook the country’s conservative government in 2022.

Dubbed the “Greek Watergate” by local media, it forced the resignation of senior officials in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s administration.

Four defendants — two Israelis including a former soldier and two Greeks — face up to five years in prison for violating the confidentiality of telephone communications. They deny involvement in illegal conduct.

The defendants include Tal Dilian, a former Israeli soldier and founder of Intellexa, a company specializing in the supply of spyware, which marketed the Predator software in Greece. His partner is also on trial.

The sentences are expected to be suspended, to the outrage of lawyers for the victims. The defendants could benefit from a 2019 law under which breaches of the confidentiality of communications are classed as a misdemeanor.

According to Greek media reports, Dilian, who remains free pending judgement, is not expected to be in court for the verdict.

The affair broke in early 2022 when a Greek investigative journalist, Thanassis Koukakis, discovered he had been wiretapped by the country’s intelligence services (EYP) and that his phone had also been infected with the Predator spyware.

Predator is sophisticated software that makes it possible to infiltrate mobile phones, access messages and photos, and even remotely activate the microphone and camera.

Intellexa was sanctioned by the US in 2024 under then-US president Joe Biden. His successor, Donald Trump, dropped the sanctions the following year.

According to the Greek Authority for Communication Security and Privacy watchdog (ADAE), the software was used against more than 90 people.