The Government announced today its intention to prepare a bill that gives powers to the Anti-Corruption Authority to appoint criminal investigators through the Director General of the Ministry of Justice, while the Assistant Attorney General requested that a dialogue be held in order to prepare a bill on the issue without gaps and problems.
These emerged today during the discussion in the Legal Committee of the Parliament, of the three law proposals of DISY and ALMA which give the authority to the Authority to appoint criminal investigators. The government's intention to bring a bill itself seems to inhibit the efforts of MPs to regulate the issue with law proposals, while the landscape remains unclear as to whether an attempt will be made for further powers for the Authority to proceed with prosecutions.
However, the position of the Commissioner for Transparency, Haris Pogiatzis, that citizens are afraid to complain by name, caused a sensation since 35% of the complaints they have are named. He stated that from the beginning of the Authority's operation until today, it has received 849 complaints, 580 were completed, of which only 17 were ordered for a criminal investigation and prosecution. He was in favour of granting the Authority the right to appoint criminal investigators when it finds the possibility of committing criminal offenses as provided for in the Alma law proposal, and at the same time disagreed with the DISY proposal for criminal investigators to be appointed from a list determined by the Cyprus Bar Association and approved by the Attorney General.
In his statement, Assistant Attorney General Savvas Angelidis, although he did not disagree with the reasoning of the law proposals, stated that the position of the Legal Service is that a meaningful dialogue should begin in tight timeframes in the context of a positive approach. The goal, he said, is to ensure testimony, to promote a comprehensive bill to cover all issues. We must keep in mind some basic principles before attempting such a change.
An investigation, he continued, must cover a specific context. The responsibilities of the Authority are recorded and care must be taken not to alter the purposes. We recognize the need in cases where criminal investigations are carried out to be completed immediately and to have a result. As the law proposals are today, the issue is not resolved. The Authority has other purposes and roles. Any criminal investigation carried out by the Authority should ensure impartiality and avoid allegations of tainted testimony.
Mr. Angelidis went on to say that the Authority is now conducting a preliminary investigation to see if there is a background for an investigation. If an investigation is carried out and it is found that there are criminal offenses, then he will request the appointment of criminal investigators. He proposed an amendment to Article 9 of the law and not to Article 14, so that the investigation can be completed sooner and the regime of objectivity and legality is maintained. Mr. Angelidis further pointed out that for the role of the Attorney General, the concern should be to conduct criminal proceedings in order to ensure a fair trial and testimony. "This thing should not be ignored, nor should the constitutional role of the GI for prosecution be ignored. To discuss, there are never dead ends, it is a mistake to proceed with individual amendments without seeing the details."
On the issue, the Director General of the Ministry of Justice, Giorgos Panteli, stated that he agrees with the law proposals, however he stressed that questions are raised and the purpose is not achieved with them. He asked for time to prepare a comprehensive bill with everyone's cooperation so that it could be put before the Parliament. This position was welcomed by the MPs and changed the data of the discussion, since everyone agrees with the substance to give the power to the Authority to appoint criminal investigators but in the right way.
In the meantime, tension was created for a moment when Alma MP Michalis Paraskevas raised the issue of presence in the Committee of the Assistant Attorney General after he excluded himself from the study of the conclusion on the "Mafia State".
In response, Mr. Angelidis stated that "I am not a political person, I will not answer except to raise a serious concern. The exception that has been made has nothing to do with any resignation from my responsibilities as BGE. I warn here purely procedurally for the purpose of safeguarding the procedure in this case. If the objection of my presence here was indeed objective, there would be the same objection for Mr. Orestis Nikitas who was a researcher, as well as for the members of the Authority."
The issue was immediately closed by the president of the Committee, Fotini Tsiridou, who stated that the issue with the expansion of the Authority's powers will return in October.
