Cyprus’ Supreme Constitutional Court accepts petition for dismissal of Auditor General

NICOSIA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — Cyprus’ Supreme Constitutional Court, the country’s top legal body, said in a ruling on Wednesday that Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides should be dismissed for inappropriate conduct.
The decision plunged the EU-member island country into what legal experts called “a crisis of institutions” as it involved a dispute between the Attorney General and the Auditor General, two so-called independent officers.
It also set a legal precedent as it defined the conditions under which it is possible to dismiss independent officers, who up to now could not be fired even by the president of the state who has the right to appoint them.
The eight-member court panel said in a unanimous decision that the Auditor General displayed dangerous conduct, exceeding by far all limits of self-restraint in the performance of his duties.
The decision is final as there is no higher court that could handle an appeal.
Michaelides said after the ruling that the Court’s decision was “a victory for the system and contradicts the citizens’ demand to fight corruption.”
Michaelides was appointed Auditor General in April 2014 by former president Nicos Anastasiades. Since then he has been a vocal critic of the president of the state, the government, and other public officials and institutions, accusing them of multiple violations of the law and of mismanagement of public money.
In recent years he has been at loggerheads with the Attorney General and his deputy, accusing the Deputy Attorney General of doing legal favors to a client of his former law office.
The Court’s decision came after a petition by Attorney General George Savvides before the Supreme Constitutional Court seeking the dismissal of the Auditor General for misconduct in the performance of his duties.
“It is with sorrow that we observe the Auditor General did not limit himself the way he should. He showed a complete lack of self-restraint,” Supreme Constitutional Court President Antonis Liatsos said in reading the 209-page ruling.
He added that the Auditor General targeted and insulted the AG and showed a lack of objectivity, thus undermining the constitutional standing of the legal service’s opinions, and causing public rifts.
The Court ruled that the Auditor General “brutally violated the deputy attorney general’s right to innocence” in the way he handled a complaint he submitted against him to the Anti-Corruption Authority.
“The Auditor General was not limited to the role of accuser, but reserved for himself the role of judge, by challenging the Authority’s decision,” the Court said. ■