Intellexa is one of several technology businesses founded over recent years by Tal Dilian, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and now a serial entrepreneur who has a golden passport from EU member state Malta. Intellexa’s Predator is at the heart of a huge and ongoing controversy in Greece, where multiple investigations are under way into the alleged surveillance targeting of politicians, business figures and journalists.
The number of EU states that are abusing spyware is limited, in ‘t Veld told The Irish Times. There are “four or five” countries where there is a “blatant deliberate attack on democracy” using spyware, she said. But it is a mistake to think that the misuse of the technology by some is not a threat to the EU generally. “You cannot say I have gangrene in my arm but the rest of my body is fine.”
The publicity worked out badly for Dilian and the business he was developing with a view to competing with the better known NSO Group. The van was seized by the authorities and a criminal investigation initiated. It was this that led to the former intelligence officer moving his corporate affairs from Cyprus to Greece and other locations, and incorporating an Irish holding company, Thalestris Limited.
Both companies have since moved their registered office address to Foley Street. Because they file consolidated accounts, and Thalestris has subsidiaries in Greece, Switzerland, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, little information is available as to the level of activity, if any, in Ireland. There is no indication it has any place of business in this jurisdiction, or any employees.
In her report, she says Intellexa’s presence in Ireland is used to avoid tax. The consolidated accounts filed by the group show a 2021 loss of more than €6 million, and loans at a high interest rate from an entity apparently based in the British Virgin Islands.In the report in ‘t Veld says, in reference to Intellexa: “Ireland has become the member state where some of the main spyware companies involved in scandals have registered, due to its fiscal laws.
The most important safeguard against the misuse of corporate structures is transparency, and new measures in this regard are being introduced, she says. In an amendment to in ‘t Veld’s report, Fitzgerald refers to a new Government Bill that will introduce greater transparency in relation to the use of Irish limited partnerships, a type of legal entity that is being marketed internationally as having many of the attractions of an offshore company.
In ‘t Veld would like to see more co-operation between the European Union and the US in relation to the control of spyware, more pressure being applied by the European Commission on Israel – “the real cradle of this whole industry” – and greater implementation by European governments and agencies of the controls and laws that already exist in relation to the surveillance of citizens and the export of products that can have a military use.