Legal service files case to suspend auditor-general (Update 2)

The legal service on Friday filed a case to suspend Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides.

Legal service spokeswoman Maria Lantidou confirmed the case’s filing to the Cyprus Mail, with the case only the second of its nature to be filed in the history of the Republic of Cyprus.

Michaelides immediately responded with a statement, describing the case as a “retaliation” for a complaint filed by his service regarding an alleged abuse of power on the part of assistant Attorney-General Savvas Angelides in May last year.

Angelides had at the time described the complaint as “deliberate targeting”, “dangerous behaviour”, and “bad faith”.

On Friday, Michaelides said “the implementation of this retaliation has been underway for months and is now entering its final phase with the filing today of an application for my suspension from the position of auditor-general for alleged misconduct.

“These unsubstantiated accusations which the heads of the legal service throw at me and at the audit service at every opportunity will finally be able to be answered by independent and unbridled judges,” he said.

He added that the forthcoming legal process will “bring purification and an opportunity to expose one whose conduct is improper, that is, so bad, so reprehensible, as to render the person responsible incapable of continuing in his office.”

The case against Michaelides will be only the second time a request for the suspension of an independent state official has been filed in the Republic of Cyprus. The only other so far was the case of Rikkos Erotokritou, who was suspended as assistant attorney-general in 2015.

Erotokritou was later sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of defrauding a public official, bribing public officials, and other charges.

The current ‘war’ between the legal service and the audit office was kicked off last Sunday when deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides told gave a scathing interview to newspaper Kathimerini regarding Michaelides’ conduct.

“Any sane thinking person would demand to follow the only procedure which exists to control the behaviour of the auditor-general towards independent officials and others in the public sphere,” he said.

He said the “only option available to assess this behaviour” is to involve the judicial council in a process which, would “adjudicate an application to decide what constitutes misconduct for the purpose of dismissal.”

In response, audit office spokesman Marios Petrides said “Angelides outlined some very serious accusations and yet no action has been taken.”

“If you want to do something, do it.”

President Nikos Christodoulides has not taken a side on the matter as yet, but described the situation as “a very unpleasant development” on Monday.

On Friday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Christodoulides “is not going to get involved” in the dispute.

He added, “there is a separation of powers. The judiciary will make a judgment and its decision will be fully respected by the president.”

He also made reference to planned reforms to the legal service and the audit office, saying it is “the government’s will to implement the institutional reforms”.

He added that these reforms will “modernise” both institutions and allow them to become “more effective”,

Lawyer Christos Clerides, on the auditor-general’s legal team, told the Cyprus News Agency: “we want everything to be examined in the context of substance,” he said.

He added, “I understand that the complaint is that [the auditor-general] overstepped his authority,” but noted that the act of overstepping one’s authority “does not constitute misconduct.

“Courts have in hundreds of cases overstepped their authority and competence, and they are overseen by higher courts in the forms of appeals or by applications to the supreme court,” he said.

He went on to reference article 139 of the constitution, which allows for recourse against various institutions of the Republic related to conflicts or contests of power or competence.

In this regard, he said, “matters of competence are controlled by a specific procedure and they do not constitute inappropriate behaviour. Inappropriate behaviour is something else. It is where someone has behaved in such a way that it is not appropriate for them to be in their position.”

He also pointed out that the powers exercised by the auditor general are not exercised by him alone but are carried out by a six-member audit council which takes these decisions.

Clerides noted that other attempts have been made to have supreme court judges and even former Attorney-General Costas Clerides from their roles, but the supreme court of the day had ruled that members of the public do not have the right to request that state officials be suspended.

With this in mind, Clerides said the matter of whether the attorney-general or assistant attorney-general can request that state officials be suspended will be “one of the issues that will be decided” should the case go ahead.