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In his ongoing feud with the attorney-general\u2019s office, auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides has repeatedly spoken about the need to end the former\u2019s dual role as advisor of the state and state prosecutor. This is not something that Michaelides has thought up in order to get one over on Giorgos Savvides and his deputy, whom he has attacked on countless occasions, but a recommendation of the European Commission, which seeks a \u201cclearer distinction between the Law Office\u2019s advisory and prosecutorial role\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its Rule of Law report published in July 2023, the commission reminded that in 2016, the Council of Europe\u2019s\u00a0Group of States against Corruption (Greco) \u201cexpressed the view that being an integrated part of the Law Office, the prosecution service may be seen to operate in an environment that is not free from potential or real risk of improper influence.\u201d Although a draft law on the reform of the attorney-general\u2019s office was prepared and submitted to the House for discussion last April it completely ignored this matter, being more concerned with the \u201csalary alignment of law officers with the salary scales of judicial officers\u201d and the establishment of a prosecutorial council to decide on recruitment, promotions and disciplinary action against law officers.<\/p>\n
No real explanation was given as to why Greco\u2019s recommendation, which would make for a better-functioning legal service was ignored. The Law Office told the European Commission officials on a visit to Cyprus that there were no plans to separate the two functions, because the need for such a reform \u201chas not been expressly pointed out or implied by Greco\u201d. If it was a good idea, could the Law Office not have adopted it, without being ordered to do so, especially as it had the support of the bar association as well as stakeholders? It would also ensure a more effective prosecution service as its law officers would specialise as prosecutors instead of doing advisory work as well and improving their skills in neither. Does the AG not want his lawyers to sharpen their legal skills through specialisation?<\/p>\n
The Rule of Law report also said the \u201cabsence of possibility of review of the decision of the attorney-general not to prosecute or to discontinue raises concerns.\u201d These are very legitimate concerns, considering Cyprus stands alone as the only member state of the EU in which no form of hierarchical or judicial review is provided for these decisions. It is astonishing that in this day and age, the AG enjoys power that verges on the absolute. This constitutionally protected lack of accountability is what we would expect in a totalitarian regime, yet our democracy has lived with it for years, accepting that an AG has the despotic powers of colonial times.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Akel deputy, Irene Charalambides tabled a proposal in the legislature for the amendment of Article 13 of the constitution that would end the power of the AG to decide against or suspend criminal prosecutions in the public interest. Under the constitution the AG has the discretionary power to decide what is in the public interest, without having to provide any explanation.<\/p>\n
This power, however, works both ways. Last week, after Savvides stopped a private criminal prosecution against a Russian oligarch in a dispute over \u20ac110 million, the lawyer of the claimant publicly accused the AG of corruption and made the unsubstantiated allegation there had been a \u20ac3m pay off. This, despite the fact the Authority against Corruption had on three occasions been asked to investigate and found no evidence to support the lawyer\u2019s claims. The AG issued two statements responding to the accusations, but avoided giving a full explanation for his decision, restricting himself to saying there was insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n
The few people who had listened to the other side\u2019s lawyer giving an account of the history of the case, which had been dragged through the Cyprus courts for close to 10 years with the claimant being unsuccessful, would perfectly understand the AG\u2019s decision to stop the private prosecution. It would have been a waste of the courts\u2019 time. But as the AG offered no explanation for his decision, many people would have taken the corruption allegations seriously.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendment of the constitution would require the support of two thirds of the legislature to go through, a majority that is unlikely to materialise given that several parties are not keen on it. Perhaps Savvides, himself, should publicly support the amendment as his stated objective is to protect the institution of the AG. And there is no better way to protect the institution than by making it accountable.<\/p>\n
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\nCyprus Mail on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The text discusses the ongoing conflict between the auditor-general of Cyprus, Odysseas Michaelides, and the attorney-general\u2019s office, led by Giorgos Savvides. The main facts presented in the text are:<\/p>\n
1. Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides has called for an end to the dual role of the attorney-general\u2019s office as both advisor of the state and state prosecutor, a recommendation also made by the European Commission.
\n2. The European Commission’s Rule of Law report from July 2023 echoed concerns by the Council of Europe\u2019s Group of States against Corruption (Greco) from 2016 about the risk of improper influence due to the integrated role of the prosecution service within the Law Office.
\n3. A draft law to reform the attorney-general\u2019s office was submitted to the House in April but did not address the separation of the advisory and prosecutorial roles. Instead, it focused on salary alignment and the establishment of a prosecutorial council.
\n4. The Law Office has stated there are no plans to separate the two functions, as Greco did not expressly point out or imply the need for such a reform.
\n5. The Rule of Law report also highlighted concerns about the lack of review for decisions made by the attorney-general not to prosecute or to discontinue cases, a situation unique to Cyprus within the EU.
\n6. Akel deputy, Irene Charalambides, proposed an amendment to the constitution to limit the attorney-general’s power to decide against or suspend criminal prosecutions in the public interest.
\n7. The attorney-general recently halted a private criminal prosecution against a Russian oligarch, leading to public accusations of corruption, which the attorney-general denied without providing a full explanation.
\n8. The proposed constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass, which is considered unlikely due to lack of support from several parties.<\/p>\n
Please note that the text contains opinions and rhetorical questions that are not factual information, such as speculations about the attorney-general’s motivations and the effectiveness of the legal service. These have been omitted from the summary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[671,580,537,295,3,203,379,201,121,676,250,718,658,591,185,243,634,635],"class_list":["post-2861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-akel","tag-attorney-general","tag-bar-association","tag-corruption","tag-cyprus","tag-environment","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-featured","tag-george-savvides","tag-google","tag-greco","tag-history","tag-lawyers","tag-main","tag-odysseas-michaelides","tag-opinion","tag-our-view"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n