Ministries of Justice and Digital Governance: ‘The electronic system for the provisions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is not our competence’

The Ministries of Justice and Digital Governance deny what is mentioned in the question submitted to the Parliament by PASOK regarding “the non-existence of an electronic file of provisions for the monitoring of the Communications Privacy Authority”.

His deputies point out that according to “journalistic reports, the Communications Privacy Authority (ADAE) as part of its investigation addressed the mobile phone provider with which Mr. Androulakis’s mobile phone is contracted to check the existence of a provision for his monitoring by the system of “legal consultation of the EYP” given that the ADAE keeps a handwritten file, therefore it is impossible to refer to it in time. The Authority, according to the same journalistic information, had decided to create and maintain an electronic file of the monitoring provisions, however this has not been done , since the MLA is pending which should be co-signed by the competent Minister of Digital Governance, K. Pierrrakakis”.

It does not concern the EYP

As the two ministries state, however, this does not concern the EYP but the provisions of all other prosecutorial officers and is not their competence. This belongs to the commander of the EYP and the ADAE: “…in the cases of the issuing of an order by the public prosecutor’s officer of the EYP, the creation of a separate electronic platform for the delivery of the provision, following a decision of the Governor of the EYP and which determines all the technical and procedural details for its implementation and operation. The platform in question has been launched in the context of the cooperation of the EYP with ADAE”, they report.

The full announcement reads as follows:

“The MLA of the Ministers of Justice and Digital Governance, invoked by PASOK-Movement for Change, does not concern the EYP, as it is completely wrongly stated, but prosecutorial decrees issued by prosecutorial officers of the country’s local competent courts, except for the prosecutorial officer of EYP

This is made clear by the provisions of the relevant legislation, and specifically by article 5 of law 2225/1994 (A’ 121), as amended by the present Government with articles 37 par. 1 of law 4786/2021 (A 43/23.3.2021) and 66 par. 1 of Law 4871/2021 (A’ 246/10.12.2021).

Specifically:

1. According to par. 4 of article 5 of Law 2225/1994, until March 2021, it was provided that the provision requiring the lifting of confidentiality was delivered, among others, to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in a closed file.

This procedure was changed at the initiative of this government, and in particular, with article 37 of Law 4786/2021, (Α΄43/23.3.2021), it was foreseen for the first time that the order of the competent prosecutor will now be delivered electronically encrypted message.

2. Also, with the above provision it was provided that by a joint decision of the Ministers of Justice and Digital Governance, all technical and procedural details for the implementation and operation of the electronic system regarding the delivery of the provision by the local competent Boards of Appeals are determined or Misdemeanors and by the competent prosecutors of the courts of the whole country with an encrypted electronic message and to the ADAE. This procedure is distinct from that concerning the EYP.

This system as well as the above-mentioned KYA is in the process of finalizing the technical details with the competent prosecutors and will be completed in the next period of time.

Here it should be noted that every information system has requirements analysis, related design, code development, pilot application and finally production operation as prerequisites. Due to the seriousness of the information circulated in the said system and the large number of prosecutorial officers and authorized employees who will have access to it, all the above steps are done with increased care and diligence.

3. With regard to the creation of an electronic platform for the provisions of the public prosecutor’s office, we must note that this is a different system, which does not fall under the competences of the Ministries of Justice and Digital Governance.

In particular, in the cases of the issuance of an order by the public prosecutor’s office, Law 4871/2021 (Α’ 246/10.12.2021) provides for the creation of a separate electronic platform for delivery of the order, following a decision of the Governor of the Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and by which it is determined all technical and procedural details for its implementation and operation. The platform in question has been launched in the context of the cooperation between the EYP and the ADAE.

In conclusion, for issues of particular importance in terms of transparency and democratic legitimacy, it is important that the opposition’s side conducts a responsible and careful examination of an issue before constructing “reasonable questions”. Because otherwise, the questions become just silly”.

P. St.