ATHENS – Former PASOK lawmaker and minister Michalis Karchimakis and two officials of Greece’s National Intelligence Agency (EYP) were cleared by a judicial council Oct. 1 of leaking state secrets following an investigation in connection with wiretapping cases and an alleged plot against then-Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis.

The council said there was no evidence showing the defendants had leaked secret documents because the information was not confidential.

Charges against Karchimakis were brought after the scandal was uncovered in 2005 showing that the telephones of Karamanlis and his cabinet were bugged and being monitored.

Classified documents belonging to EYP were found at Karchimakis’s home during a search that followed allegations by an EYP agent that the ex-minister had requested data in 2006.

In his defense, Karchimakis said the documents had arrived at his office inside an envelope from an anonymous source in 2007 and that he had subsequently used the information to ask questions in Parliament.

He said the accusations were politically motivated. “Perhaps with the views which I courageously, steadfastly and stubbornly expressed, I disturbed certain people and made enemies,” said Karchimakis.

PASOK, which is now defunct after falling out of favor for backing austerity while serving its major rival New Democracy in an odd coalition, said at the time that there had been no misuse of public funds, while speaking of “conspiracy theories which are an insult to common sense.”