Questions are mounting on the handling of the spy van case

 

In a letter, the General Secretary of AKEL asks the President of the Republic to reopen the case and proceed with the investigation

2 April 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou sent a letter today to the President of the Republic regarding the black spy van case, calling for his intervention to reopen the case and proceed with its investigation.

The letter notes that the issue has resurfaced in the news, both due to T. Dilian’s statements that his company cooperates “only with governments and law enforcement agencies”, as well as the recent revelations in Cyprus regarding collusion/entanglement between centres of power with these companies and their owners, reinforcing the many questions that arise, particularly regarding how this case was handled by the Legal Service.

The General Secretary of AKEL points out that the issue of surveillance, institutional collusion/entanglement, and corruption is extremely serious, as it concerns the protection of citizens’ rights as well as the democratic functioning of institutions, and as such cannot be left in the dark.

Attached is the full text of the letter from the General Secretary of AKEL.

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Nicosia, 2 April 2026

To the President of the Republic of Cyprus

Mr. Nicos Christodoulides

Your Excellency,

I am returning to the well-known issue of the black surveillance van because it is a matter that has resurfaced with new implications, raising many questions, particularly regarding how this case was handled by the Legal Service.

As I am sure you are aware, AKEL filed a complaint about the case as soon as it was informed of the vehicle’s existence, and this complaint triggered both the police investigation and the relevant debate in Parliament, following an initiative taken by AKEL, which yielded a great deal of overwhelming evidence.

More specifically, according to evidence AKEL presented in Parliament, as well as what has been documented and presented under oath by the Police before the Court, it has emerged that:

1. The van with foreign license plates found on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, equipped with capabilities for surveillance and wiretapping, was imported as a vehicle for recording weather phenomena. The vehicle belongs to the company WS WISPEAR SYSTEMS LTD, one of whose directors is Tal Jonathan Dilian.
2. This company was contracted to upgrade the Wi-Fi network at Larnaca International Airport with a system that, as T. Dilian himself had reported to government officials, enabled eavesdropping via mobile phones. Based on the above activities, it appears that there was illegal access to over 9.5 million devices.
3. Evidence from a Police Report demonstrates that the Authorities had been aware since 2014 of the illegal surveillance in Cyprus, which involved companies owned by former Israeli agents.
4. T. Dilian also provided services to the then-ruling party, DISY, which intervened with the Ministry of Commerce so that his company could sell equipment to other governments.
5. The client list of these companies also includes the Police Force, as invoices for the purchase of various services were found, while the then Chief of Police also referred to surveillance equipment purchased under the previous leadership.

And while T. Dilian and his associates were sentenced to prison terms for similar cases of illegal surveillance in Greece, in Cyprus the company was fined, but for T. Dilian and his associates, the Legal Service suspended criminal prosecution, citing, generally and vaguely, the public interest.

In light of T. Dilian’s statements that his company works “only with governments and law enforcement agencies” as well as the recent debate in Cyprus regarding collusion/entanglement between centres of power and these companies and their owners, I deem it necessary to request your intervention so that this specific case be reopened and that its investigation proceeds.

Your Excellency the President of the Republic,

The issue of surveillance, institutional collusion/entanglement, and corruption is extremely serious and concerns both the protection of citizens’ human rights and the safeguarding of the democratic functioning of institutions. We cannot permit a shadow to be cast over such cases and the credibility of our institutions to be tarnished by those who should be the first to safeguard it, thereby intensifying citizens’ distrust and disdain toward the State and the competent law enforcement authorities.

Sincerely,

Stefanos Stefanou

General Secretary of AKEL