By Giorgos Georgiou
- AKEL Member of the European Parliament
The anticipated announcement by the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority regarding the case of the infamous “Black Van” brings back into the spotlight a murky case that has scarred Cyprus and exposed the country internationally.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
A case that is not merely about a vehicle equipped with advanced technology.
It concerns surveillance, its handling by the relevant authorities, and, ultimately, the rule of law itself.
The story gained wider attention in 2019, when former Israeli intelligence officer Tal Dillian publicly unveiled a black van equipped with WiSpear technology, a company registered in Cyprus, and touted its capabilities to track cell phones, intercept devices, and eavesdrop on communications remotely.
The revelations prompted an investigation in Cyprus. The van was seized, and arrests followed. PEGA later reported that WiSpear equipment had been installed at Larnaca Airport and that data from more than 9.5 million devices had been collected through these systems.
In 2021, the Data Protection Commissioner imposed an administrative fine on WiSpear for personal data breaches. That same year, however, the Attorney General, in a completely inexplicable and suspicious move, suspended the criminal proceedings against Tal Dillian and two other individuals. Prosecution of the company continued into 2022, when WiSpear pleaded guilty to 42 charges and was fined a paltry amount.
AKEL raised the issue as a matter of its own motion before the House of Representatives’ Legal Affairs Committee, where it was examined in 2022 and 2023. The evidence presented highlighted serious issues of political and institutional collusion, as well as Dillian’s company’s ties and collaborations with state institutions and with DISY; meanwhile, the Police, after initially denying the allegations, acknowledged that such collaboration had taken place. It remains particularly serious that the prosecution of Dillian was suspended for reasons of “public interest,” which were never made public.
In March 2022, the European Parliament established the PEGA Inquiry Committee to investigate the use of Pegasus and other spyware in Europe. As Vice Chair of the Committee, I insisted that Cyprus’s role also be investigated. In August, I requested a fact-finding mission to Greece and raised the issue of companies producing and exporting such technologies that were operating in Cyprus.
We came to Cyprus. We went to Greece, Israel, and elsewhere. We asked for information and answers. Instead of substantive explanations, we encountered reluctance and dismissiveness.
Then-President Nicos Anastasiades dismissed us with the familiar line, “You’re seeing ghosts”…
In the end, they weren’t ghosts.
PEGA’s reports identified Cyprus as a major hub for the spyware industry, highlighted Cyprus’s – Greece’s connection to Intellexa and Predator, and serious issues regarding the implementation of European rules on the export of dual-use goods.
As the European Parliament, we have called for a full investigation into the allegations, an audit of spyware export licenses, a mapping of companies operating in Cyprus, and the publication of the special investigator’s findings on “Black Van.”
Following the European Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report, I raised the issue again in the plenary session of the European Parliament and explicitly called for the case to be reopened.
In February 2026, the case took on a new dimension. A Greek court convicted Tal Dillian and three other individuals of offenses related to illegal surveillance using Predator. Tal Dillian publicly admitted that he works exclusively with government agencies. The Anastasiades–DISY government remained silent at the time, as if guilty.
This naturally raises the question: How was Dillian convicted in Greece, while his criminal prosecution in Cyprus had been suspended?
That, too, remains unanswered!
The request for a review was raised again in April 2026 by the Secretary-General of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, calling for an end to the suspension of prosecution and a reinvestigation of the case, as well as answers regarding the relationships and connections between the Anastasiades government, the then-ruling DISY, and companies involved in the surveillance.
This is why the announcement by the Independent Authority Against Corruption is of particular importance. More than six years after the initial revelations, the public has a right to know what happened, who was aware of it, who made the decisions, and to what extent there were instances of accountability that were not addressed.
Our position remains consistent.
National security cannot serve as a pretext for unchecked and arbitrary surveillance.
Democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental freedoms are non-negotiable.
And the answers we sought back then are still owed to us…
