When monitoring mentioned in Greece today’s New York Times articlewhere, among other things, it is noted that a department of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted licenses to Intellexa to export Predator to third countries, in particular to Madagascar.

In confirmation of what they write, NYT journalists refer to a corresponding statement by the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexandros Papaioannu after talking with him.

For their part, Foreign Ministry sources note that the communication with the NYT was as follows:

“Dear lady,

I’m sorry to be late with the reply. We had to request relevant information from the relevant authorities.

The competent authority for issuing export licenses is the General Secretariat for Economic Diplomacy and Transparency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The General Secretariat issued two licenses to Intellexa SA on November 15, 2021. The end user was the Madagascar Anti-Fraud Agency (Agence National antifraude, Madagascar).

Following the media reports, the relevant Under Secretary of State for Economic Diplomacy and Transparency requested the Inspector General of the Foreign Office to conduct an internal administrative investigation to see if there was any basis for the media reports. The relevant investigation is ongoing.”

What does the NYT article say?

The NYT article is titled “How the Global Spyware Industry Went Out of Control” (“How the Global Spyware Industry Went Out of Control”) and covers the topic of monitoring conversations and related programs both globally and in Greece and in Cyprus.

Citing a response from Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandros Papaioannou, the NYT reports that the Greek government has admitted that it has licensed Intellexa to sell Predator software to a third country, namely Madagascar.

The publication of the American newspaper notes that on November 15, 2021, the competent department of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two export licenses. Mr. Papaioannou also said – according to the NYT – that the ministry’s inspector general had launched an internal investigation following the relevant releases.

According to the New York Times, “Predator” stirred up public life in Greece, as it was found to be used against journalists and members of the opposition.

“The Greek government has repeatedly pointed out that this software is illegal and has nothing to do with it. Despite this denial, Greece admitted that it supported Intellexa and its spyware: this allowed the company to export Predator to Madagascar, whose government is known to stifle dissent, ”says the publication, signed by journalists Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman and Matina Stevis. -Gridnev.