Dismissed Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides said on Wednesday the system has “successfully beheaded me”.

Speaking after the Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to relieve him of his duties was handed down, he said he was departing his role “with a clear conscience”.

“I served the country for ten years as auditor-general and I am leaving with a clear conscience. The work produced in these 10 years at the audit office, in its main mission to combat corruption, speaks for itself and is recognised both in Cyprus and internationally,” he said.

“For four years, as soon as [former Attorney-General] Costas Clerides left, there was a coordinated attempt to destroy me both on the part of the former president [Nicos Anastasiades] and the head of the legal service [George Savvides]. An effort in which the current president [Nikos Christodoulides] later joined.”

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“Their effort over the years to frame me was evident, and this was demonstrated by the pile of material which accumulated in the legal service, in the form of monitoring every statement made by me, my friends, my relatives, my family, and so on,” he said.

He went on to say, “I came into confrontation with the system and today, the system, through this decision made by the Supreme Constitutional Court, successfully beheaded me, presenting me … as by far the worst official who ever passed through the Republic of Cyprus.”

He then compared his case to that of Rikkos Erotokritou, the former assistant attorney-general who was suspended by a court decision 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.

“If you compare the decision with the one made on Rikkos Erotokritou, you will find that what was attributed to me is clearly worse than that attributed to Rikkos Erotokritou. I was dismissed as worse than Rikkos Erotokritou.”

Moving on to what he perceives as the wider consequences for the Republic of Cyprus, he said, it has “put a tight corset, a gag on the audit office.”

“It essentially abolishes the audit office, with the content of the decision and with the identification of bad behaviour in every action the audit office carried out within its competence, even in terms of the style of its announcements and letters”

He added, “I consider this decision to be a stumbling block to freedom of speech and expression in our country. Among other things, I was fired for the content of a website, with which I have stated many times I have nothing to do.”

“This is a black day for Cyprus and an obstacle to society’s demand for there to be a fight against corruption. For my part, my own fight continues, and, if nothing else, I am free today.”