Filenews 19 May 2021 - by Chrysanthos Manolis
In a specific way, the European Court of Auditors and the Audit Services of the Member States of the European Union - with the sole abstention, according to our information from that of the Greek service - call on the Cypriot Government in their decision to respect the constitutional role of the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus and the acquis communautaire with regard to the exercise of control and to facilitate it in the implementation of its mandate. , in this case for the Cyprus Investment Programme.
The intervention of the European Court of Auditors and the highest audit institutions of the Member States was made by a decision of the Contact Committee last Monday. The Contact Committee is the assembly of the heads of the highest supervisory bodies of the EU Member States and the European Court of Auditors.
The intervention of the European Court of Auditors and the highest audit institutions of the Member States was made by a decision of the Contact Committee last Monday. The Contact Committee is the assembly of the heads of the highest supervisory bodies of the EU Member States and the European Court of Auditors.
It is important to note that this committee, with the positive vote of all its members, with the abstention of only the Greek audit service, accepts the fact that the Government's Audit Office is obstructing the KD Audit Office when carrying out an audit of exceptional naturalisation.
In particular, it states in the decision that 'the Contact Committee notes in that regard that one of its members, the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus, has recently encountered significant difficulties in carrying out audits on the Cyprus Investment Programme. In particular, it was confronted with:
- Restrictions on its timely, immediate and free access to all documents and information it deemed necessary to carry out the checks,
- External attempts to influence its decisions on the publication of the
corresponding reports'.
It is required by the acquis
Elsewhere in the Decision, it is noted that 'the Contact Committee and its members have a particular interest in the smooth conduct of effective control
of the investment programme by the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus". And the following are tended, apparently with recipients the government and the Attorney General of the KD: "The acquis communautaire provides for the operation of an independent external audit, from an operational, institutional and economic point of view, in accordance with the Declarations of Lima and Mexico2 and with the standards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). This includes the right of every supreme monitor in the EU to:
- Define its control programme,
- Have unrestricted access to the relevant information,
- Prepare reports on his work, and
- Decide on the content and timing of its audit reports and on their publication and dissemination.
It is obvious that the Contact Committee submits to the Cypriot Government and the Attorney General that they have violated the principles of the acquis communautaire by depriving the Audit Office of the natural records, asking it to wait for the completion of the Investigation Committee's investigation in order to carry out audits itself and criticising it publicly for publishing the reports on the investigations it carried out with obstacles.
Strict recommendation
In its conclusion of its decision, the Contact Committee becomes absolutely clear and stresses that "it considers that any attempt to obstruct the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus to carry out its audits correctly is contrary to the fundamental principles of the European Union and the acquis communautaire, which imposes legally binding obligations on all EU Member States. It therefore calls on all interested parties to respect the constitutional role of the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus and to facilitate it in the execution of its mandate." It is added elsewhere that "the Cyprus Investment Programme has given the Republic of Cyprus the possibility of granting citizenship in exchange for investments in Cyprus. In view of the rules of the internal market, in particular those relating to the free movement of goods, capital, services and persons, this programme is important not only for the EU
member states as a whole, but also for individual Member States. In order to ensure adequate accountability, it is important that it can be subject to public scrutiny."
The Contact Committee makes no reference to the Committee of Inquiry into natural journalism, rather because it considers them to be a completely separate and irrelevant matter with the powers of the Audit Office.
Awaits the files for the Audit Office to proceed
In its communication yesterday, in which it communicated the decision of the Contact Committee of the European Court of Auditors and the Audit Services of the Member States, the Audit Office of the KD welcomed "with great satisfaction the statement of the Contact Committee. The above statement', it states, 'from a European institution of such high standing as the European Court of Auditors and unanimously from all the Audit Services of the other EU Member States, confirms the need for all to respect the independence and role of the Audit Office, as dictated both by the explicit provisions of the Constitution of the Republic and by the fundamental principles of the European Union and the acquis communautaire'.
In the last paragraph of its communication, the Audit Office states that "on the basis of the above, and in particular after the practical confirmation of our position that the work of the Audit Office and the Investigative Committee was not mutually exclusive, but on the contrary could be complementary and done without any problems, at the same time and at the same time, we expect that the government will revise its stance and will now allow a seamless audit of the Cyprus Investment Programme. If the government accepts this position, which constitutes a position of principle, technical details for handling procedural issues may be discussed in a spirit of understanding by both sides.'
