Surveillance software could be exported from Cyprus and literally make the round of the world before being re-imported after a period of six months. And all this with the blessing of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This is what Philenews reported on Monday and published relevant documents to prove this.
Specifically, the relevant Ministry had granted a temporary export license to a company for a “dual-use” item such as a monitoring software system.
The license allowed shipping of the product to eight countries for demonstration purposes.
This procedure was valid from September 2014 till March 2015 and the documents published by Philenews provide proof of this beyond doubt.
At the same time, advanced software of this kind were being sent by a company registered in Cyprus and based in Limassol to European countries such as Germany, France and Poland.
This is a Cypriot company which was taken over by a giant in the surveillance software industry for tens of millions of dollars.
The published documents also show the mischievous ways of operation of the company in question.
For example, an agreement document between a business entity registered in Cyprus and a Thai one states that if Cyprus does not approve the export, then the Ministry’s relevant service would be by-passed. And the subsystems would be delivered to Lithuania instead.
It seems that the transfer of such “dual use” items within European territory is a preferred method by companies of this kind.
The investigative report also shows that companies of this kind have been operating in Cyprus for the past decade with millions making the rounds and without the threat of any obvious illegality.
Because no clear directives and regulations were in place in Cyprus despite EU obligations.
