The Companies Registrar and the Bar Association are investigating unusual changes in a Cypriot company connected to Intellexa and Predator.
This comes against the backdrop of recent US sanctions on natural and legal persons of the Intellexa Group. Documents were submitted after 39 months, and an official was appointed without his knowledge.
The latest journalistic revelations about the case involving the monitoring software Predator, the well-known Intellexa group promoting it, and the peculiar discrepancies in a business entity registered with the Companies Registrar, have already engaged competent authorities in Cyprus.
At the same time, the possibility that the case will be forwarded to the police for investigation is not ruled out.
The above information comes from official sources received by Phileleftheros from the Department of the Companies Registrar of Cyprus, as well as from the Cyprus Bar Association.
Already, the relevant department of the Republic and the official body of lawyers in Cyprus are conducting an investigation to determine whether there are any irregularities/illegalities concerning licensed administrative service providers in Cyprus.
This is because documents submitted to the Cypriot company Santinomo, linked to the Intellexa Group and Predator, shortly after the US sanctions against the said Group, raise issues of legality.
Recently, and shortly after these American restrictive measures, pre-dated documents were submitted to the said Cypriot company, showing changes in its management structure made 39 months ago.
At the same time, an official of the same business entity claims ignorance about his name being placed on its board. These are the two points that make the investigation of the case imperative.
Background
The events that surfaced last Wednesday from Inside Story and the newspaper Politis concern changes made to the Cypriot company Santinomo Ltd, which is connected to Intellexa’s interests.
The said group of companies, whose product range includes the monitoring software Predator, was founded by Israeli entrepreneur Tal Dilian. The latter had activities in Cyprus, as evidenced in the case with the black van.
Later on, Intellexa transferred its operations to Greece. The Group heavily engaged with Greek media in the summer of 2022, as by then it had become known that through the Predator software, cyberattacks were conducted on the mobile devices of the Greek journalist, Thanasis Koukakis, and the president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis.
In the case of the former, it was scientifically proven that his phone was being monitored with this specific spyware (spring of 2022).
The Intellexa Group returned to the spotlight on the 5th of this month, after new sanctions from the US Department of the Treasury’s OFAC on individuals and companies connected to it.
Specifically, restrictions were imposed on the founder Tal Dilian, his alleged partner and close associate Sara Alexandra Chamou, as well as on companies of his interest, Cytrox AD (based in Skopje), CYTROX HOLDINGS ZARTKORUEN MUKODO RESZVENYTARSASAG (Hungary), INTELLEXA LIMITED (Ireland), INTELLEXA S.A. (Greece), and THALESTRIS LIMITED (Ireland).
Santinomo and Bitzios
The intriguing aspect of the case concerns the role of the Cypriot company Santinomo Ltd, which holds 35% of the Greek company Intellexa AE, which in turn is included in the “blacklists” of the US Departments of Commerce and Treasury.
A central role in Santinomo seems to be held by the Greek entrepreneur Felix Bitzios. His name has mainly been in the spotlight of the Greek media in connection with the Predator scandal, while he is now also appearing to be involved with the Panathinaikos Basketball Anonymous Company.
Journalists from Inside Story, Eliza Triantafyllou and Tasos Telloglou, in their recent investigative report, note about Santinomo and Bitzios:
“Two days after the latest sanctions, on 7th March 2024, Santinomo Limited submitted to the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus two more backdated documents, concerning once again the distant December of 2020. According to the new documents, posted a few days ago, Andrea Gambassi did not remain as the director and secretary of Santinomo Limited for even a day. As mentioned above, it is assumed that on 19th December 2020, Felix Bitzios and Finsol Enterprises resigned from their positions of director and secretary respectively, for their associate Tal Dilian and Sara Aleksandra Hamou to take over, as Andrea Gambassi was appointed. This is because – according to another backdated document – Felix Bitzios had sold his shares in the Irish Thalestris one day prior.”
“Finally, on 7th March 2024, Santinomo Limited informed the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus, with a delay of 39 months, that on 19th December 2020, Felix Bitzios reassumed the directorship of the company, succeeding Andrea Gambatsi, and Finsol Enterprises returned to its position as the company’s secretary.”
In the report by the Greek colleagues, details are given about the role of Finsol Enterprises, presented as the secretary of Santinomo:
“The director of Finsol Enterprises is the Greek accountant Elias Kyriakides and the compliance officer (as it is a company licensed by the Cyprus Bar Association) is the Greek lawyer Konstantinos Koukoutsis.”
The situation became more complex when Andrea Gambassi responded to the questions of the Inside Story journalists:
“(…) We directed detailed written questions to all involved parties. Namely, to Felix Bitzios, Finsol Enterprises, the director and accountant of the company Elias Kyriakides, and the compliance officer, lawyer Konstantinos Koukoutsis, as well as to the other party of the transaction, Andrea Gambatsi, who controls 51.41% of the rights of the Irish Thalestris Limited and acts as a trustee for other individuals holding the remaining 48.59% of voting rights.
The only one who has responded so far is the Swiss former banker Andrea Gambassi. The responses we received open a new chapter in the report and are likely to lead to inspections by the supervisory (and not only) authorities of Cyprus: Regarding the share transfer and the documents you sent me, I can confidently state that I have never been involved in this transfer (of Santinomo Limited) nor am I aware of any share transfer held by Santinomo Limited to Intellexa, to Thalestris Limited. Furthermore, I have never been a shareholder nor have I ever taken an active or passive role in Santinomo Limited. Finally, I can assure you that I have never met Mr. Bitzios.”
“Santinomo issues will be investigated”
The Registrar of Companies, Irini Mylona-Chrysostomou, speaking yesterday to Phileleftheros from Munich where she is for official reasons, mentioned that she has already made arrangements to investigate the raised issues about Santinomo.
We specifically asked for clarifications on the issue concerning the submission of documents showing changes in the administrative structure, which were submitted 39 months later.
Mylona-Chrysostomou stated that companies, after first completing their internal procedures based on decisions of their officials, are obliged to submit the relevant documents within 14 days.
When documents are submitted late and outside the timeframe, a Late Filing Fee is imposed.
She added, however, that for a change to be registered by a company and accepted by the electronic system of the Department of Registrar of Companies or the officer handling it, the submitted documents should not conflict with other documents in the company’s file.
An official from the Cyprus Bar Association stated to Phileleftheros that the case has been under examination for about a week.
Specifically, it is being handled by the Supervision and Compliance Department of the Bar Association.
“There is a proposal for the case to be forwarded to the Cyprus Police, however, it will first be examined by the competent authorities. In any case, we consider the case very serious and it is being examined accordingly,” was the position expressed responsibly to our newspaper.
