The founder of the surveillance technology company linked to Greece’s Predator spyware scandal has launched a fresh challenge to the country’s political and judicial establishment, reviving questions about one of the most consequential controversies to shake Greek democracy in recent years.
Tal Dilian, the Israeli entrepreneur behind the surveillance technology group Intellexa, issued a sweeping public statement this week criticizing the handling of investigations into the Predator affair, a scandal that exposed the targeting of journalists, opposition politicians, business figures and senior officials with sophisticated spyware capable of infiltrating mobile phones.
His intervention comes as Greek authorities appear to be drawing a line under the affair. The government recently used its parliamentary majority to block the creation of a new inquiry committee, citing national security concerns, while the prosecutor of Greece’s Supreme Court moved to shelve additional investigative avenues related to the case.
For critics, the decisions have reinforced concerns that key questions surrounding the scandal may never be fully answered. For the government, they represent the conclusion of years of investigations and political confrontation.
The controversy has already left a significant mark on Greece’s political landscape. Revelations beginning in 2022 that journalists and opposition figures had been targeted by surveillance tools triggered domestic outrage and attracted scrutiny from European institutions, including the European Parliament, which examined the use of spyware across member states.
Dilian occupies a uniquely controversial position in the affair. Earlier this year, a Greek court convicted him and three associates of privacy-related offenses connected to the Predator case, imposing prison sentences that collectively totaled 126 years. Under Greek legal procedures, however, such sentences do not necessarily translate into actual prison time, and the ruling remains subject to appeal. Dilian and his co-defendants have consistently denied wrongdoing.
In his latest statement, published by the newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton, Dilian argued that investigators had failed to examine crucial evidence and overlooked key witnesses. While avoiding direct accusations, he pointedly referenced several senior figures who played prominent roles during the affair, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, former intelligence chief Panagiotis Kontoleon and Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis.
Dilian reiterated a central element of his defense: that Intellexa sold surveillance technology to government clients but never operated the systems itself.
“We are a technology provider, not mercenaries,” he said. “We never operated any system in Greece.”
That claim carries particular significance because it touches on one of the central unresolved questions of the scandal: who ultimately deployed Predator against targets inside Greece.
Dilian also expressed surprise that Kontoleon, the former head of Greece’s National Intelligence Service, known as EYP, was not called to testify during recent parliamentary proceedings. Such testimony, he argued, could have clarified the distinction between companies that manufacture surveillance tools and the state agencies that ultimately use them.
The entrepreneur announced that he intends to summon a broad range of witnesses during forthcoming appeal proceedings, where he and his co-defendants will seek to overturn their convictions. He insisted that a fuller examination of the evidence would demonstrate their innocence.
His statement also sharpened tensions with the government. Dilian criticized public remarks by Justice Minister Floridis that appeared to assign responsibility to what he called “four private individuals,” arguing that such conclusions were premature while the appeals process remains ongoing.
At the same time, Dilian lamented Parliament’s decision not to establish a formal inquiry committee into the affair. He said he would have welcomed the opportunity to testify publicly and provide information that could shed further light on the case.
The remarks immediately reignited political controversy.
Opposition politicians seized upon Dilian’s comments as evidence that significant gaps remain in the official account of the scandal. Several called for prosecutors or parliamentary authorities to summon him formally and compel the disclosure of contracts, records or other documentation that could reveal who purchased and controlled Predator inside Greece.
Kostas Tsoukalas, a spokesman for the center-left PASOK party, argued that Dilian’s comments once again pointed toward the Prime Minister’s office and the intelligence service. Gavriil Sakellaridis, a prominent figure on the Greek left, went further, accusing Dilian of publicly exerting pressure on the government and describing the situation as “the blackmail of the Prime Minister and the Greek government in real time.” The Hellenic Left Alliance, a opposition coalition, called for Dilian to be formally summoned either by judicial authorities or by Parliament’s Committee on Institutions and Transparency. In a sharply worded statement, the party argued that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “can no longer hide” from the questions raised by the spyware affair and accused the government of obstructing efforts to uncover the truth. The alliance said Dilian should be compelled to testify and provide any contracts, records or other evidence that could identify who purchased Predator and how it came to be used in Greece. “The minimum we expect in the coming days,” the statement said, “is the immediate summoning of Tal Dilian, either by the Greek judiciary or by Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee, so that he can provide answers and evidence regarding who bought the illegal spyware.”
Among those demanding further scrutiny is Zacharias Kesses, a lawyer representing several alleged victims of unlawful surveillance.
Kesses argued that Dilian’s latest statements raise questions that authorities can no longer ignore. If Intellexa sold Predator exclusively to government entities, he said, there should be contracts, procurement records and other documentation identifying the buyer. If Intellexa did not operate the spyware in Greece, then someone else must have done so.
According to Kesses, Dilian’s remarks effectively narrow the possible explanations. Either a Greek state agency acquired and deployed the software, or a foreign government used it on Greek territory. Both scenarios, he argued, would warrant a far more extensive investigation than has taken place so far.
He was particularly critical of the limited scope of previous inquiries, arguing that investigators have failed to pursue obvious leads, including Dilian’s repeated claims that evidence exists which could clarify who purchased and operated the spyware.
“After all these statements, the question is whether prosecutors will finally do their job and summon Dilian to produce the contracts and supporting evidence he says exist,” Kesses said.
