Greece's sprawling Predator spyware scandal has burst back into the political spotlight after former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras formally requested a judicial investigation into his own targeting with the surveillance software, opening a new front in a controversy that has haunted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' government for nearly four years.
In a petition submitted to the prosecutor of Greece's Supreme Court, Samaras said he had repeatedly sought explanations from the government after learning that he had been targeted by Predator, the spyware developed by the Intellexa group, but had received no answers. The surveillance of senior public officials, he argued, raises profound questions about democratic institutions, civil liberties and national security.
"Such a matter cannot remain in darkness or silence," Samaras said in the filing, according to Greek media reports.
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The intervention is politically explosive. Samaras is not only a former prime minister but also one of the most influential figures within the governing conservative New Democracy party.
His decision to seek judicial action effectively pits one of the party's elder statesmen against the administration of Mitsotakis, reviving a scandal the government has repeatedly sought to put behind it.
The government moved quickly to distance itself from the development. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said the matter belonged to the judiciary rather than the executive and dismissed Samaras' criticism as increasingly repetitive.
Marinakis also noted that, despite the surveillance controversy, Samaras ran as a New Democracy candidate in the June 2023 general election. He did not mention, however, that Samaras only officially learned he had been targeted in August 2023, when Greece's Data Protection Authority informed him that Predator had been deployed against him.
The government spokesman also omitted another politically sensitive detail. In February, an Athens court convicted executives linked to Intellexa's Predator infrastructure in Greece and explicitly called for an investigation into the software's possible connections with Greece's National Intelligence Service (EYP), which reports directly to the prime minister's office.
Greece's Supreme Court prosecutor has so far not pursued that line of inquiry, prompting criticism from opposition parties and legal experts.
The opposition socialist party Pasok seized on Samaras' move, accusing the government of effectively acknowledging that the Predator affair originated within the prime minister's inner circle. At the same time, the party criticized the former premier for acting belatedly, arguing that he had only now fulfilled his institutional duty by turning to the courts.
The latest clash adds another layer of complexity to a scandal that has already triggered high-profile resignations and intensified international concerns over the rule of law in Greece.
According to Zacharias Kesses, the lawyer representing several Predator victims, Samaras was targeted in October 2021 through two deceptive text messages allegedly designed to infect his phone with the spyware. Kesses said no state authority had ever summoned the former prime minister to testify or subjected his device to forensic examination, accusing prosecutors of carrying out only a superficial investigation.
Potential offences, including espionage, breaches of state secrecy and violations of personal data, remain insufficiently investigated, the lawyer argued.
Samaras' intervention is significant not only because of his political stature but also because it marks the first major legal initiative by a senior political figure since recent court rulings revived aspects of the Predator affair.
For Mitsotakis, the timing is particularly awkward. The prime minister has spent years trying to draw a line under a scandal that first erupted in 2022, when it emerged that opposition leader Nikos Androulakis had been targeted by Predator while also being monitored by Greece's intelligence service.
Now, one of New Democracy's own heavyweights is demanding fresh answers, ensuring that one of the country's most damaging political controversies remains far from over.
