By George Vichas
They are drawing up a list of persons who will be asked to give answers to PEGA members when they come to Cyprus around the beginning of November regarding the issue of surveillance through spying software.
The programme of the mission's presence in Cyprus of the members of the European Parliament's committee of inquiry into the use of Pegasus software and related spyware surveillance software is expected to be finalised very soon.
Speaking to the Cyprus Times, George Georgiou, MEP of AKEL and one of the vice-chairmen of the European Parliament's special committee of inquiry into the Pegasus software, said that "it was decided that there was a need[/B] for members of the committee to come to Cyprus."
- The European Parliament's committee on surveillance[/B]
- MEPs join the pieces of the surveillance puzzle. Cyprus and Greece in the frame
As he explained to us, "the repeated publications and confirmations that such software was produced and exported in Cyprus, the fact that many non-governmental organizations, international journalistic organizations, Cypriot journalists, the Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis and what he notes in an interview and recent article that allegedly confirms the Cyprus-Greece connection, the testimony that through the Cytrox company that produced Predator and through a route with Cypriot companies with which Dilian and Avni are associated, these software were moved to Greece through a new company Intellexa, made the committee believe that there is a need to come to Cyprus."
Asked about this, Georgiou said that the committee will investigate all possibilities as to what is happening with the companies that exist, whether they are operating legally, whether they are exporting legally and whether there is any interconnection between Cyprus and Greece, i.e. whether Cyprus is "contaminating" Greece through the companies.
As regards the persons who will be called to give answers before the Commission members, Georgiou noted that "they can be ministers, they can be officials, former or current officials".
"We will issue an invitation for various persons related or likely to be related or aware of these issues to come forward for a hearing," he added.
It will be recalled that on Thursday 8 September, Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis, who was a victim of surveillance, will be brought before PEGA.
Also, the Greek Social Democrat MEP and President of KINAL-PASOK Nikos Androulakis, who was subject to a surveillance order by the Greek authorities, is expected to appear before PEGA in a separate hearing together with Spanish MEPs who also had surveillance software installed on their phones.
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
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