The developments in Greece with Predator and the conviction of businessmen (26/02/2026), including our well-known in Cyprus, Tal Dilian, are directly linked to our island and are expected to concern the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority.
In the multi-page lawsuit filed against 14 legal and natural persons by the eight victims of illegal surveillance who believe that they were vindicated after the first instance court decision in Greece, a number of allegations are recorded, which directly concern Cyprus.
The plaintiffs, including the Greek journalist, Thanasis Koukakis, the first confirmed victim of phone tapping according to the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, present our island as a base for those involved with the Predator software and illegal surveillance.
In the accompanying text of their lawsuit, they include a total of 16 references to Cyprus. Based on what they record, Tal Dilian and his wife Sarah Alexandra Hamou, arranged a few years ago to reside permanently in Cyprus.
Then, always on the basis of the allegations, through a network of companies, some of which were registered in Cyprus, Dilian gained control of the Predator software and then transferred his activities to Greece, where the illegal wiretapping took place.
As a factor that played a role in the decision to transfer the activities of Dilian's companies to Greece, the conviction of a company owned by the latter by the Permanent Criminal Court of Larnaca for the black van (fine of €76,000) is claimed.
And it is added to the text accompanying the lawsuit (full reference): "The above case created an unfavorable climate in the circle of activities of the Intellexa group in Cyprus, as a result of which it led the defendants, Tal Dilian and Sara Alexandra Chamou, to look for a new place of establishment of their business activity in Greece.
This was assisted by businessman Stavros Komnopoulos, who introduced Tal Dilian and his associate Sahak Avni, to the second defendant Felix Bitzio, a businessman who until March 2019 was the head of SE Europe of the Libra group, active mainly in renewable energy sources, while he was the beneficiary of companies based in Cyprus, such as "Viniato Limited, Boritaco Holdings Limited", "Restine Limited, Rubricus Investments Limited" and "Layth Capital Ventures Limited", registered with the Cyprus Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property on 16-01-2019.
On 2-09-2019, the company "SANTINOMO Limited" was established in Cyprus with the sole shareholder and director being the second defendant, Felix Bitzio, with the aim of carrying out business activity, providing IT services and dealing with, among other things, software development and system integration for applications in the C4I (Common Tactical Operation Picture Solution) sectors, in order to carry out business activity, to provide IT services and to deal with, among other things, the development of software and the integration of systems for applications in the fields of C4I (Common Tactical Operation Picture Solution, defense simulation, command centers – sensor integration), spatial information systems (geographic information systems, remote sensing, photogrammar, Web GIS, mobile applications) and Geoinformatics".
The lawsuit initiated on behalf of the eight persons by the lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, is also directed against employees of the Intellexa group, who, although Greek, reside permanently in Cyprus. One of them is an alleged programmer of the Group, specializing in server programming. "F" tried yesterday to receive reactions from persons who are defendants, however, he found that there is no willingness to take a position.
We remind you that the four defendants in the Predator case, namely the well-known businessman in Cyprus Tal Dilian, Sarah Hamou, Felix Bitzios and Yiannis Lavranos, were found guilty last February on charges related to three offenses, for which a prison sentence was imposed. As the investigative journalism website Inside Story wrote, "these are misdemeanors, which, however, led to a prison sentence of 126 years and 8 months, by a merger of 8 years, with total serving of the sentence and suspension until the hearing of the Appeal".
