This afternoon, it is expected that a request for the suspension of the Auditor General will be filed with the Supreme Constitutional Court by the legal team of the Attorney General, as reported by the Cyprus News Agency.
\nAccording to the information, final changes are still being made to the text, and the request is expected to be submitted around noon.
\nChristos Clerides, a lawyer from the Attorney General\u2019s team, when asked by the Cyprus News Agency about the matter, stated that they themselves are also waiting to see when the request will be submitted, and that they want the substance of the issue to be adjudicated.
\n\u201cWe want everything to be examined within the context of the substance,\u201d Clerides said.
\n\u201cI understand that the complaint is that he exceeded his powers (the Auditor General),\u201d he said, adding that exceeding any powers \u201cdoes not constitute inappropriate behavior.\u201d
\nHe reminded that courts have \u201cin hundreds of cases\u201d exceeded their powers and are subject to review by the higher court either by appeal or by a request to the Supreme Court for jurisdictional review.
\nHe noted that in our Constitution, \u201cthere is explicit provision in Article 139,\u201d that when there is an overstepping of authority or challenge of authority of one organ against another organ, the complaining organ has the right to refer the matter to the Supreme Court, then, today, to the Supreme Constitutional Court, to decide.
\nClerides pointed out that issues of jurisdiction are reviewed through a specific procedure and do not constitute inappropriate behavior.
\nHe stated that inappropriate behavior \u201cis something else\u201d and is, in other words, where someone has behaved in such a way that they are not fit for the position.
\nHe mentioned that the powers exercised by the Auditor General, namely the control of expenditures and generally the management of various public and state matters, are not exercised by him alone, but there is an Audit Service and decisions are not unilateral, i.e., of himself, but there is a five-member council that makes these decisions.
\n\u201cSometimes there may be disagreement, but in most cases, decisions are unanimous,\u201d Clerides said, and raised the question of whether the Audit Service should be abolished because its decisions are not to everyone\u2019s liking.
\nAsked by the Cyprus News Agency, he said that the only other such case, for the suspension of an independent state official, was that of the former Deputy Attorney General, Rikkos Erotokritou.
\nFurthermore, he continued, there have been successive cases in the past in an attempt to suspend judges of the Supreme Court and in one case of the Attorney General himself, Kostas Clerides, for the Trifonos case.
\nThere, he noted, the Council of the then Supreme Court, before being abolished and replaced by the new Council today of the Supreme Constitutional Court, \u201csaid that no citizen is entitled to appeal and seek the suspension of an independent official, it is the President who has the exclusive authority to seek this.\u201d
\nAsked by the Cyprus News Agency if the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General can do this or if they need the approval of the President of the Republic, Clerides said that this is one of the issues to be decided.
\nBased on the Trifonos case, he said, \u201conly the President of the Republic can give instructions to initiate the procedure.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Attorney General, according to the Constitution, does not have such authority; nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the Attorney General is entitled to make requests for the suspension of another, equal-ranking official,\u201d he added.
\nThe one who appoints, if not satisfied and considers that there is misconduct, can refer the matter to the disciplinary against independent officials in some way, he also said.Supreme Constitutional Court. suspension request, Auditor General, jurisdiction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A request for the suspension of the Auditor General is expected to be filed with the Supreme Constitutional Court by the legal team of the Attorney General. The request is based on the complaint that the Auditor General exceeded his powers, which is not considered inappropriate behavior. The decision to suspend an independent state official must be initiated by the President of the Republic, according to the Trifonos case. The Attorney General does not have the authority to make such requests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1972,4791,5936,580,972,4729,240,6051,6694,4879,932,3,5193,241,3935,5147,2796,7962,148,6653,3331,4843,4652,1673,2871,4441,168,4544,7961,7314,114,6305],"class_list":["post-9709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-appeal","tag-approval","tag-article","tag-attorney-general","tag-audit-office","tag-audit-service","tag-auditor-general","tag-complaint","tag-constitution","tag-constitutional-court","tag-court","tag-cyprus","tag-decisions","tag-deputy-attorney-general","tag-expenditures","tag-inappropriate-behavior","tag-issues","tag-jurisdiction","tag-local","tag-management","tag-news","tag-president","tag-president-of-the-republic","tag-procedure","tag-request","tag-service","tag-supreme-court","tag-suspension","tag-suspension-request","tag-the-deputy-attorney-general","tag-top-news","tag-who"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n