Filenews 2 January 2021
Article by Auditor-General Ulysses Michaelides on the special edition of the Liberal: "The Next Day – How we Proceed"
The year 2020 we leave behind was another year in which the Audit Office found itself exercising its powers in a difficult environment.
In 2015, for the first time, the Government expressed the position that the Auditor-General's actions "go out of his constitutional powers either as interference with the role and work of other independent officials or constitute his involvement in the role of the executive." At the time, there were three separate cases, all related to the then Minister of the Interior.
The first case concerned the Kosi Unit. The Home Secretary had agreed with the contractor a seven-year extension of the contract and a reduction in the unit price to €39.90/tonne. We have indicated that this extension may have been illegal. This position was then expressed by the Attorney-General. A few months later the well-known scandal broke and the contractor was convicted in a corruption case. With the correct handling that followed, the unit price decreased without the need for a contract extension. In other words, there has been full confirmation of the correctness of our Agency's positions. Unfortunately, the contractor is still in place.
The second case concerned Bangladeshi students. According to correspondence received at our Service, the Minister had ignored all the other Services involved which indicated that documents submitted by students were forged and allegedly decided to "acknowledge to the candidates the benefit of the doubt" and to allow their entry. We sent the matter to the Attorney-General, and then the Minister claimed that this was supposedly out of our powers and powers. In the police investigation that followed, serious evidence was found that called into question the authenticity of presented medical certificates and bank statements of accounts used to obtain permission to enter the Republic. It was five years before the current Home Secretary acknowledged the problem of virtual students and promoted measures to combat the phenomenon.
The third case concerned the State Slaughterhouse of Kofinou. The Minister closed the slaughterhouse in 2013 and after two years of inactivity, launched the tender notice for the ten-year lease of the, theoretically in liquidation, slaughterhouse. We have sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior with our reservations about the legality of the procedure and have recommended that he seek guidance from the Attorney-General. As soon as the Minister realised that we were right, instead of seeking a legitimate solution to safeguard state property, he abandoned it and, as a result, it was looted.
Unfortunately, the government's doubts about the work of our Agency have continued ever since. Recently, the Government Spokesman said that "the Auditor-General is diverted, violates provisions of the Constitution, despises and undermines other institutions, and his generally inappropriate conduct affects the prestige, credibility and independence of the institution he was called upon to serve." Something similar was said in 2015 when the Cabinet said that "public conduct on the part of the Auditor General that undermines the seriousness and credibility of the institution".
One could take the view that it is the government's right to make such accusations against appointed officials who are obviously not in the clear. In general, this is correct, but provided that it is accompanied by appropriate documentation. The Office has repeatedly asked us to give concrete expression to cases which, according to the Government, have been out of its constitutional powers. In such a case, the two sides can discuss resolving the dispute, and if they do not find them to resort to the Supreme Court as provided for in the Constitution. Unfortunately, so far the Government has not responded to our invitation. But as long as it does so, combined with the promotion of the controls we carry out, it affects key pillars of our independence, for which we have requested the assistance of the relevant International Organisation INTOSAI. We hope that the guidance given by INTOSAI will be respected by all.
For our part, all staff remain involved in the continuous effort to improve with the ultimate goal of professional excellence.
We wish to be worthy of the expectations of our fellow citizens.
Happy New Year!
