in-cyprus 11 January 2021 - by Annie Charalambous
With Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides and the government still at loggerheads over the outspoken official’s authority, he announced on Monday he has reported Nicosia to the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
And that he has requested the intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions to step in.
Michaelides’ decision to publish findings relating to the controversial and now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme despite him being advised to stop looking into the matter was the latest’s ‘inappropriate action’.
At least this is what the government argued, leaving open the possibility of legal action to be taken against him for overstepping the bounds of his office.
Legal action on the grounds of conduct unbecoming has the sole intent of terminating an independent official’s time in office.
“We are informing INTOSAI today (Monday) about the culmination of slanderous comments and intimidation threats that affect the independence of the Audit Office,” Michaelides said in a Tweet.
