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A year after the start of the investigation in connection with an alleged attempt on the life of former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, the Greek police and intelligence services are questioning the facts, on which the case has been based.

To Vima newspaper reports that senior officers express their surprise over the decision of the judicial authorities to associate the investigation of the attempted assassination in 2008 with the investigation connected with the phone tapping in 2004. According to sources, the investigator found that the calls of ministers from the government of New Democracy had not been made only in the period 2004 - 2005 but that they continued until 2007 because of the energy policy of the Prime Minister at the time.

The investigator gathered the testimony of the police officers guarding Kostas Karamanlis, who had said that they "were actually informed of the existence of a plan to attack him." In an earlier testimony, a former senior representative of the intelligence service had said that the bomb outside the State Property Company on Alexandras Avenue had also been intended for the former Prime Minister, as his official car had been parked at a distance of several metres.

In addition, the mobile operator provided the investigating authorities with further data on the contacts of an employee with the U.S. Embassy in Athens. The analysis of calls made 5-6 years ago, that involved suspicious persons and companies acting as "windows," had found evidence too.

However, the police and the intelligence service question some of the data, presenting the following arguments:

1. The results of the investigation in connection with the phone tapping in the period 2004 - 2005 show that the illegal software of the mobile Vodafone operator had been turned off in March 2005 and not restarted. They suggest that the investigation of the attempt on Kostas Karamanlis’ life could have found data on other types of phone tapping.

2. There has never been information that the watch on 104 people in the period 2004 - 2005 was related to the energy policy in Greece. The police and the intelligence service claim that it was related to the security of the Olympic Games. Among the people under observation were police officers, members of the organizing committee of the Games as well as Greek and foreign citizens who had been suspected of being members of terrorist groups.

3. In recent months, the investigation of the persons involved in the phone tapping has reached a particular employee of the U.S. embassy who had lived in the neighbourhood of Paleo Psychico and he has been connected with the 14 phone tappings. Currently, judicial authorities are seeking details of the particular employee.

4. According to the anti-terrorist service, the bombing against the State Property Company on Alexandras Avenue was the work of the terrorist group "People's Will" and it was connected with the property scandal with Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos. Its members had sent a manifesto to assume responsibility for the case. Typical are the words of a police officer, "We have no doubts about the authenticity of the manifesto of "People's Will", which is a typical group of guerrilla fight in urban environments. Perhaps Mr. Karamanlis’ movement from the place of the bombing to the Public Property Company was coincidental."

5. The case of an 'attempt on Mr. Karamanlis’ life' originated from a document of the intelligence service, which had been based on another document issued by an officer of the Russian Embassy in Athens. Greek intelligent officers had defined him as "a reliable source, who has provided reliable information on state and other issues." According to his information, in March 2008, 19 members of the Russian National Security Service FSB (successor to the KGB - author's note) had arrived in Athens in connection with "the attempted phone tapping of the conversations between Kostas Karamanlis, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Bulgaria at the time, Georgi Parvanov." The Russian agents found a group of strangers who followed the car of the Greek Prime Minister in the area of ​​Nea Makri near Athens. The time period stated was from 20 to 25 April 2008, which was the same as that of the skirmishes between the two groups too. The same scenario indicates that the persons charged with "an attempt to kill the Prime Minister" were driving a van but fled from the place of the clash by motorcycle. The Russians claim that they had found in the van explosives and maps, which made it clear that the plan to kill Kostas Karamanlis belonged to Western intelligence services and their Israeli "brother" - Mossad. Greek police officers, however, stated a year ago, "Kostas Karamanlis, Vladimir Putin and Georgi Parvanov met in the Prime Minister's Maximou residence on 4 September 2006 and the major topic of their discussion was the gas pipeline Burgas - Alexandroupolis. How could it be possible for the Russians to have come to tap this meeting two years later? They have never provided us with information that they had found this van, the maps and the explosives. Bulgarian diplomats were also not aware of anything. How was it possible for the attackers to have escaped by motorcycle since it is assumed that they were driving a van when the Russians stopped them? In addition, we asked Kostas Karamanlis’ guards whether they had found out about any suspicious activity and they denied, saying they did not know anything about the case."

6. The testimony of the members of the former Prime Minister’s security guards that they were aware of the "existence of a plan to assassinate the Prime Minister of the time" may mean nothing. The police and the intelligence service claim that it is not the product of primary information since the specific guards were informed about the case later. In particular, this happened in 2009, when the Greek intelligence service released its report and its head at the time, Ioannis Korandis, submitted it to the Interior Minister at the time, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

According to confirmed information, the Minister had informed Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis of the intelligence information, but also expressed reservations about the reliability of this information. However, through senior police officers, he warned the officers guarding the Prime Minister to "be careful and just in case, to constantly change routes."
 
At the same time, many commentators believe that the discussion about "the plan to assassinate Kostas Karamanlis" has been incited for the sole purpose of rehabilitating the former Prime Minister in the public consciousness and that it is connected with his return to active politics.