The Law Office has found no ‘special relationship’ regarding the student support fund that is chaired by the first lady and driven by private donations, accountant general Andreas Antoniades – who is also the fund’s treasurer – said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Audit Office said the fund and its donations gave the impression of being a charity-for-influence scheme and that the pattern of donations may suggest preferential treatment.

Antoniades told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the Independent Social Support Body asked the Law Office for an opinion after the Audit Office’s publication.

Audit Office representative Yiota Michail explained to CNA that the element of transparency was part of compliance control and that the Audit Office was not liable for its reports being instrumentalised in public life.

Antoniades said audit criteria for this type of compliance control had to do with the regulatory framework of the fund concerning donations and financial support, and any other findings should be presented separately.

Any “special relationship” was not covered by the legislative framework for the compliance control set out by European institutions and guidelines issued by the Council of Europe.

Asked if the findings justified the Audit Office’s suspicions, concerns, indications and impressions, the Law Office clarified that the Supreme Constitutional Court in a ruling last year had found nothing to prove a special relationship, Antoniades said.

He added that audits carried out in the name of transparency gave the true and fair picture of the fund’s status and that all reports were made public.

Furthermore, most of the donors had agreed to their logo being published in the presentation.

Antoniades reminded that a bill stipulating for the publication of full details of donors above a certain amount was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Constitutional Court.

Michail said the Audit Office had received a complaint regarding donations to the fund and that an audit had already been scheduled since the last was had been carried out in 2017.

“We believe that the fund chaired by the spouse of the president of the Republic creates special relationship conditions, since individuals or legal entities contributing to the fund have legitimate transactions with the state and their interests are affected directly or indirectly by political decisions,” Michail said.

She added that the facts themselves did not imply an illegality or irregularity, however they did raise questions as to a “possible undue influence”.

The audit, she said, highlighted the need to enhance the fund’s transparency and recommendations have been made in this direction.

“Our aim is for our reports to be utilised by those audited, to constitute a useful instrument towards improving procedures and enhancing transparency […] If our reports are instrumentalised or interpreted selectively by various parties of public life for any reason, this is not the responsibility of the Audit Office,” she added.

On Tuesday, the Audit Office published its report on the Social Support Fund, which helps local students in need. Under the stewardship of the first lady, it is funded by private donors who may retain their anonymity.

The absence of full transparency creates doubts over the fund, the Audit Office said.

But what the report flagged most of all was that a number of donors (companies and individuals) had some relationship or transactions with the state.

This gave the impression of a pay-to-play scheme with charity being used as the cover, the Audit Office said.