MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ORDER
PRESS OFFICE
Athens, 08/02/2006
STATEMENT
As far as the article published today in the newspaper ΄΄Kathimerini΄΄ regarding the ΄΄action of OLAF΄΄, it is stated that:
There is no ´´OLAF team´´ within the National Intelligence Service.
OLAF is the European Agency against Fraud, an institution under the umbrella of the European Commission; its mission is to protect the EU interests, fight against fraud, corruption and any other irregular activity.
OLAF offers the necessary support and know-how to the Member-States. In this context, the Hellenic National Intelligence Service was provided with the necessary equipment to fulfill its mission with the help of EU co-funding. This kind of equipment has nothing to do with the action of eavesdropping on telephone calls made with a mobile or with a fixed phone, whereas it cannot ´´ by its make´´ even provide such services.
It is more than obvious that the newspaper has misinterpreted what has been said by the Minister of Public Order, Mr. George Voulgarakis, in yesterday´s meeting of the Parliamentary Commission of Institutions and Transparency.
What the Minister said is clear and has been included in the minutes. ΄΄there was one Head of Division, Major Stavros Katsoulis, appointed to this position by the previous government about seven years ago, who was working at the Division of surveillances and indeed, special steak-outs. That person had received a lot of training and had followed lots of seminars and courses? Mr. Katsoulis remained within the Service for as long as it was necessary and when the Service managed to find somebody who could replace him, it was then able to release Mr. Katsoulis΄΄
Therefore, Mr. Stavros Katsoulis was head of a specific operational unit of the National Intelligence Service that had nothing to do with surveillance of telephone calls and the so-called ?OLAF team?, which does not exist within the Hellenic National Intelligence Service.
