House committee pays €1m to anti-corruption authority

The House finance committee on Monday approved the release of €1.04 million for the procurement of services from the anti-corruption authority.

The amount concerns the purchase of services from experts for investigations conducted by the authority.

Speaking after the decision’s approval, Akel MP Christos Christofides expressed his disappointment that “serious weaknesses” had been exhibited in the authority’s investigation of complaints raised by his party, particularly involving the golden passport scandal.

In response, the authority’s chairman Haris Poyadjis said his authority would have to conduct “a restart”.

“Some things were not done as well as they should have been done,” he said, adding that a number of investigations have been restarted from the beginning.

To this, Christofides asked how the authority defines investigating officers and why in some cases experts are drafted in from abroad, while in other cases, they are not.

Poyadjis replied that experts from abroad are sought for “high profile cases”.