Publisher Alekos Michailidis described journalist Fanis Makridis' book “Cyprus, the Hub of Surveillance”, published by Aigaion, as a “weapon in the war against corruption”. The book was presented on Wednesday at the Journalists’ House.
Journalist Tasos Telloglou spoke about his own investigation into surveillance and his collaboration with Makridis. He said countries such as Cyprus and Greece serve as “export hubs” for surveillance software because of the absence of a regulatory framework. Antonis Makridis, a journalist, former president of the Cyprus Journalists’ Union and the author’s father, stressed journalists’ duty to continue investigations, increase pressure on those in power and defend the public interest. Fanis spoke about the difficulties and obstacles he encountered. Journalist Xenios Mesaritis moderated the event.
Decade-long investigation
The book is the result of ten years of journalistic research. Recounting the case, Mesaritis said it began in late 2016, when Fanis Makridi received information about a surveillance “suitcase” in the possession of a party leader. The journalist later obtained a classified police report which, according to Mesaritis, revealed contradictory treatment of A.S., an Israeli-born owner of a surveillance company operating in Cyprus: police were conducting criminal investigations against him over indications of surveillance, but were also cooperating with and facilitating him. The company’s clients included the police themselves and DISY.
The “black van” appeared in 2019. It had been imported into Cyprus for meteorological purposes, while T.N. promoted its surveillance capabilities on the streets of Larnaca in Forbes magazine. However, Mesaritis said, the book identifies a more serious aspect: antennas installed at Larnaca airport to extend the airport’s Wi-Fi network and connected to the central server of the company that installed them. The server contained 699,720 unique device addresses and 1.5 million access records, figures indicative of the system’s capabilities.
Mesaritis said Makridis documented the relationship between the two companies, which shared a building, equipment and staff. Elias Stefanou was appointed independent criminal investigator, but his findings have not been made public to this day.
The case involving the antennas was brought before the Larnaca Assize Court in 2021. Three individuals, including T.N., and the company were charged. The three individuals were acquitted, while 49 of the 91 charges against the company were suspended and the company pleaded guilty to the remaining 42. It had already paid an administrative fine of €925,000 to the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, and the Court imposed a further fine of €76,000. There was no hearing and the full body of material was not presented publicly.
According to Mesaritis’ account of the book, the court accepted that the company possessed surveillance equipment, but it was not proven that the equipment had been used for interception. The court also rebuked the media and took “excessive and reckless publicity” into account as a mitigating factor.
While the Cyprus case appeared to have been closed, it resurfaced in Greece in 2022, with Predator and the surveillance of politicians and journalists bringing the same people and routes into focus. Export licences also came to light that year. “Surveillance software could travel around the world under Cypriot licences and be re-imported after six months,” Mesaritis said.
In 2022, Makridis testified before the European Parliament’s PEGA committee. The committee’s report adopted a large part of his research and described Cyprus as an “export hub for surveillance software”. In February 2026, a Greek court convicted four people in the wiretapping case, including T.N.
After the book was published in the summer of 2026, the Anti-Corruption Authority reopened the case, following a complaint it had received in 2023. A series of statements was exchanged with the Law Office over who was entitled to investigate what. Mesaritis said this development deepened distrust in institutions. To date, the Authority has not announced that it will conduct an investigation, while the Stefanou report remains closed. Mesaritis described the book as “investigation without a narrative”, requiring personal sacrifice, hard work and persistence, because “the public interest dictates this”.
“The power belongs to journalists”
In his greeting, publisher Alekos Michailidis said they knew Fanis Makridi would not publish a book on such a major subject unless he was certain of his research, its documentation and its legal safeguards. According to the publisher, the author did not construct a narrative and avoided making the story about himself. “He prepared a weapon in the war against corruption,” he said, adding that in “normal states” the book would prompt resignations, at least on grounds of political ethics.
Antonis Makridis criticised the Cypriot court’s decision on the antennas at Larnaca airport and said the constitutionally protected right to privacy is being violated today by “surveillance at a frenzied pace”. He urged journalists to engage collectively with matters of major importance and “not leave lone riders”, because more voices exert greater pressure. “We must always remember that the power belongs to journalists. The power belongs to those who hold the pen and the microphone. Neither the publisher nor the funder. We decide what to publish, what to broadcast,” he said, stressing that journalists must defend the public interest and human rights.
Tasos Telloglou said that his investigation, which led to revelations in Greece, was missing key pieces: how the companies made money and why they chose Cyprus and Greece to develop their activities. He met with Fanis Makridi and they exchanged information. “In Cyprus I found the answer we were looking for in Athens. They were not so interested in surveilling locals; rather, in countries with little or no regulation, a business can operate more easily, especially within the EU, with an export orientation,” he said. He added that Cyprus has no regulatory framework for surveillance.
These companies operate on a “planetary scale”, Telloglou said, and are interested in accessing international markets from the country where they produce or trade. “This was confirmed when we found exports to various African countries,” he said, noting that those countries lack even the minimum guarantee for human rights. He also referred to the Wassenaar Arrangement, saying that this equipment is considered a weapon and is crucial in negotiation situations, while it can be “extremely useful for a country’s national security”.
“But who guarantees that what is used in the country by mechanisms at the hard core of the state, which are not subject to oversight, will not be used domestically for other reasons? Who guarantees that the lack of regulation on exports will not also be used to record opinions at home?” he asked. He said the executive prefers to use these “weapons” without oversight, describing this as “institutional underdevelopment”. In conclusion, he said accountability should not lie with those who manufacture the weapon, but with those who decide how it is used and set the terms and limits for its users.
“Hard truths” about surveillance software
In his response, Fanis Makridi described the investigation into surveillance as “the most difficult journalistic undertaking”. He referred to legal letters he had received from private individuals and officials, to one instance in which the police chief was asked to investigate documents that had reached him, and to an occasion when CID investigators visited his office. He also said he faced interventions, that administrative investigations were conducted at a ministry over documents in his possession, and that he was urged to stop writing.
“But nobody said that I was writing lies. The European Parliament adopted our investigation, which was based on irrefutable evidence,” he stressed, underlining the importance of substantiating information. He said the book records “hard truths about the lawlessness prevailing in Cyprus over interception software” and described the antennas at Larnaca airport as a “real scandal”.
Makridis said there was a documented basis for the position that the Cypriot state had enabled businesspeople in the sector. “Cyprus evolved into a hothouse,” he said, because checks were non-existent. In outlining his investigation, he referred to underworld figures appearing in the scandal, a possible conflict of interest involving the Assistant Attorney General because of his brother’s relationship with Avni, and party favours to Dilian concerning the export of software to the Netherlands, which were advanced to a ministry.
“It was not easy at all. We had to do it because we believed, and still believe, that this investigation serves the public interest,” he said. The book’s self-contained chapters, he added, are connected and form pieces of a puzzle that, when put together, provide the overall picture. “Ten years after the first piece of information, this investigation is printed in a book, not to close the chapter on surveillance, but to ensure that what we believe society is entitled to know remains on record. From here on, it belongs to you,” he concluded.
Source: CNA
