Vodafone, Ericsson At Odds Over Greek Wiretap Scandal"

ATHENS (AP)--The head of Ericsson's operations in Greece on Wednesday disputed an account given by telecom giant Vodafone about a major wiretapping scandal that included illegal surveillance of the country's prime minister.

A parliamentary committee is investigating the illegal cellphone surveillance of Premier Costas Caramanlis and senior state security officials from just before the August 2004 Olympic Games until March 2005.

The list also included senior military officers, human rights activists, journalists, Arab businessmen and a mobile phone used by the U.S. Embassy, according to a list of numbers given to parliament by Vodafone.

Victims of the wiretap operation were subscribers of Vodafone, which uses technology built by the Swedish telecom equipment-maker Ericsson to maintain its Greek network.

Ericsson's CEO in Greece, Bill Zikou, told Parliament Wednesday that software it installed in the network to allow legally sanctioned surveillance had been exploited by a rogue program to tap government phones.

Zikou maintained Vodafone had been informed about that legal software and had been responsible for its protection - a claim strongly denied by the British mobile-phone operator.

"Ericsson provided the customer with full details and informative documents, noting that the new software package included software components for lawful interception," Zikou told Parliament, according to a statement released in Greek by Ericsson.

But a Vodafone statement issued after Zikou's appearance said it hadn't been informed about the surveillance software.

"Vodafone management was never informed about this decision," it said.

The rogue wiretap program hijacked the Ericsson software to divert calls to mobile phones using hard-to-trace top up services, officials said.

Parliamentary committee members said they would summon officials from Vodafone and Ericsson again to respond to questions about the eavesdropping, which also targeted the mayor of Athens, and ministers of defense and public order.

The committee is also looking into the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a senior Vodafone Greece official, Costas Tsalikidis, in March 2005 - one day before the company informed the government about the wiretaps.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 15th March 2006