ATHENS, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The Greek government on Thursday insisted that it had "revealed all" concerning an illegal phone-tap affair after a U.S. diplomat suggested U.S. involvement and a cover-up on the part of the Greek government.

    "The Greek government said all it has to say about the phone-taps to justice and then made all the evidence at its disposal public," Deputy Government Spokesman Antonaros told reporters.

    Former U.S. diplomat John Brady Kiesling wrote an article recently in the American political review "The Nation", disclosing that the illegal phone-taps have all the hallmarks of a CIA operation and U.S. Ambassador to Greece Tom Miller was forced to go along with what was presented as a covert operation to prevent terrorism.

    Kiesling, who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Greece when he quitted his job in 2003 in protest over the U.S. war on Iraq, also suggested that the Greek government knows who was responsible but is not anxious to trigger an open rift with Washington.

    Antonaros said that there was no need for the Greek government to take a position concerning Kiesling's article, given that "the American diplomat in question was not an employee of the Greek government."

    "The investigation is ongoing and is being carried out in depth," the spokesman noted in response to other questions.

    "There is no doubt that the target of the phone taps was the prime minister and top members of the government. This is indisputable. And the government has done what is required by the Constitution, the laws and its duty," Antonaros stressed.

    In early February, the Greek government had revealed that some 100 mobile phones, including those of the prime minister and five members of cabinet, as well as top echelons of the police and armed forces, had been illegally tapped for nearly a year before the surveillance was discovered and that a subsequent 11-month investigation had failed to trace the culprits responsible.

    The first official simulation of the phone-tapping system found at the Vodafone company was carried out on Tuesday, under real circumstances, at the building housing technical services of the Ericsson company in the presence of senior officials of the Safeguarding Communications Confidentiality Authority (ADAE).

    During the eight-hour simulation process, technicians from both companies did not apply the controversial software but a similar one in Ercisson's telephone network to provide answers for a series of questions.

    The ADAE officials wanted to know the conditions under which the application of the illegal software had been made possible, what its performance was, how did it operate without being noticed, what backup it had and how linking was achieved with phones being tapped.

    Evidence collected will be presented to the Authority plenum and will then be included in the report to be submitted to Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras. Enditem