Three months after getting sacked on grounds of ‘conduct unbecoming’, former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides on Monday received an honorary distinction as an “anti-corruption fighter”.

The event was organised by the Green party on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on December 9.

In his speech, Greens leader George Perdikis praised Michaelides for his long service “against corruption and graft…”

Michaelides’ dismissal, he said, was “a huge setback in the fight against corruption”.

The former official was fired in September, after the Supreme Constitutional Court found his conduct had been ‘unbecoming’ and thus he was unfit for his duties.

“Since 2014 we [the Greens] found in Odysseas Michaelides an able and strong supporter in our struggle to tackle corruption and graft,” Perdikis said.

Under Michaelides’ watch, he added, the Audit Office helped highlight flaws in waste management – in particular the management of the treatment facilities at Pentakomo and Koshi.

“And, lest we forget, there was the major scandal of the golden passports.”

It therefore came as no surprise to them, Perdikis added, that “the deep state…would not remain idle. It engineered and executed a plot that led to Odysseas’ dismissal.”

In his own remarks, former attorney-general Costas Clerides called Michaelides “a most worthy fighter against corruption”.

Clerides lamented that those who combat or resist corruption either do not get the support they need, or else they themselves become targets.

For his part, Michaelides censured the present and past administrations, as well as the attorney-general, for his removal from office.

He spoke of “non-existent market competition, lack of accountability, a developing monopoly in the healthcare sector, an oligopoly in the fuel market”.

The ex auditor-general spoke of “an incompetent, decadent and corrupt state, where nepotism and mediocrity reign supreme, wrecking the prospects for real economic growth”.