Audit office flags diplomatic stipend issues

The Audit Office went after stipends given to diplomats for living abroad and President Nikos Christodoulides, who was receiving these funds for three months while being stationed in Cyprus, in a report released Thursday.

According to the report covering the foreign ministry’s financials for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, in March 2013 Christodoulides was summoned to take on a position at the ministry in Cyprus, despite being stationed in Brussels.

His wife, who is also a diplomat, however remained in Brussels with their three children.

At the time, Christodoulides continued to receive the stipend of €4,128.45 monthly, the Audit Office said.

According to the report, he continued to receive the stipend for another three months, until he was permanently seconded to the presidential palace and relocated to Cyprus.

In their response, the ministry said that in view of the decision to bring Christodoulides back in 2013 being sudden, it was decided he could still receive the allowance, as he would have the same financial burden as if he was still in Brussels.

The ministry also decided Christodoulides would not receive maintenance and subsistence allowance during travel to Brussels, as he would continue to be based in Brussels.

The ministry also referenced two similar cases that had occurred in the past.

The auditor-general also took issue with the fact the stipend was not approved officially by the then foreign minister, but instead by the permanent secretary.

Aside from Christodoulides, the findings of the Audit Office included secondments of diplomats’ wives, which it described as “illegal”, as well as expatriation, rent and education allowances that should not have been given.

In addition, it identified increased healthcare costs for members of diplomatic missions.

The Audit Office also found several weaknesses hampering the ministry’s internal audit system, such as lack of stamps when receiving and paying invoices/other documents, failure to conduct monthly reconciliation of funds, failure to recognise receipts in a timely manner or recognising them without showing an actual cash flow.

Also the audit found the cabinet had approved the secondment of a teacher to an embassy of the Republic in Europe, where her husband serves as a diplomat, to undertake duties equivalent to diplomatic duties – even though he was not authorised to place the teacher to the post, and although the teacher in question could not lawfully be seconded outside the educational service as diplomatic staff, since that is expressly prohibited by the legislation governing the educational service.

On top of the “unlawful” placement, the report said the woman also received all the overseas service allowances which only diplomats are entitled to.

“We therefore consider this whole arrangement, with whatever it entailed in terms of salary and overseas allowances, as a provocative embezzlement of public funds and, given it was unlawful as well, we view it as abuse of power,” the auditor-general stated.

Another woman was also given a position at an embassy, where her husband was the defence attaché.

The audit also found rent being paid to a diplomat, who was living in his own flat abroad costing the state €45,000 from 2018 to 2021.

In applying for the overseas rent allowance, the diplomat concealed that the flat he lived in was owned by a company in which he held a 93 per cent stake, with the seven per cent held by his partner.

Moreover, the foreign ministry refused to take steps to recover the amount and, worse, did not initiate a disciplinary probe against this diplomat.