Auditor-General Andreas Papaconstantinou on Sunday pledged to create a framework to manage disagreements between the audit office and the legal service.
Speaking to newspaper Kathimerini, he said he had been contacted by Attorney-General George Savvides and that they will hold a meeting in due course.
“I will seek with him, among other things, to put in place a framework to manage our disagreements. There must be a mutual respect there. After all, the legal service is also the audit office’s legal advisor,” he said.
To this end, he said he hopes the legal service acts as a partner in the fight of corruption, adding, “the work of one service alone is not enough”.
He said he wishes to develop partnerships with other government institutions, singling out the legal service in particular, though noted, “that does not mean we must necessarily always agree”.
Therefore, he said, he hopes disputes between the two institutions are handled “in a calmer way … to realise what went wrong before, without underestimating either the person or the work which has been done in the last 10 years,” referring to his predecessor Odysseas Michaelides.
On the matter of Michaelides’ legacy, he said he will continue to issue separate reports for each investigation carried out by the audit service.
“Just as with many good practices implemented by my predecessor, of course I will maintain this,” he said.
He also said he was “not troubled” by the Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to relieve Michaelides of his duties.
“I do not consider that the decision set limitations or barriers on how I work. The agreement is to carry out our mission within the limits set by the constitution and the law,” he said.
He also touched on the matter of planned reforms to the audit office, describing them as “modernisations”, and “a necessary element in identifying mistakes, which is very healthy”.
He had met with Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis to discuss the matter on Friday, with Hartsiotis saying the bill approved by cabinet to reform the audit office will be submitted to the legal service for legal and technical examinations before the end of the year.
The government plans to establish an “audit board”, which will be composed of the auditor-general, the deputy auditor-general, and three other people. The five members of the audit board will also have maximum term lengths.
The European Commission’s acting spokeswoman Jordis Ferroli said last month the commission is “closely monitoring” the planned reforms, saying developments will be monitored “in the context of the preparation” of its next annual report on the rule of law in Cyprus next year.
