Attorney-General George Savvides on Friday issued a warning to those decrying the Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to fire the now former Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides.
Speaking to television channel Alpha, he said, “a court order has been issued and I just want to emphasise that it is important to support the [Republic’s] institutions, and to show the required respect to the Supreme Constitutional Court. Woe betide us if we lose faith in the courts.”
He also urged people to “read the court’s decision before commenting on it”, and to “show the required respect that we must show to one of the highest judicial institutions in the Republic of Cyprus.”
Asked in specifics about reactions to the decision, he said he was “under the impression that comments were made before [people] even read the decision, before they had the file in their hands.”
“That is not right, it is a shame for the courts,” he added.
Michaelides was removed from office by the Supreme Constitutional Court on Wednesday, with an eight-judge panel unanimously ruling that he had conducted himself inappropriately, and that he was thus unfit to carry out the office’s duties.
The court’s verdict was 209 pages long and scathing, with Michaelides having been found to have repeatedly sought to undermine Savvides’ legal opinions, often writing his own interpretations which contradicted those of the attorney-general.
It was written in the decision that Michaelides “did not limit himself to the role of the whistleblower to the independent anti-corruption authority but reserved for himself the role of a judge after proceeding to draw conclusions on his statements and submissions.”
Additionally, the court referred to “obscene content” which occurred on a social media page dedicated to supporting Michaelides, saying that although the page did not belong to Michaelides, “it bore his name and photograph”.
Michaelides himself had said the decision “essentially abolishes the audit service and democracy”, adding that it “puts a corset, a gag, on the audit office.”
“It is a black day for Cyprus and a black day for our service,” he said.
Reaction to the decision quickly reached Cyprus’ political sphere, with the House audit committee having cancelled its meeting on Thursday as a “mark of respect” to Michaelides.
Committee chairman and Diko MP Zacharias Koulias called the developments “an institutional matter of huge dimensions,” while Akel MP Irene Charalambides said Michaelides had “transformed the way in which the audit office operates”.
She also called him a thorn in the side of a “system that tried to protect itself.”
Volt MP Alexandra Attalides expressed her disappointment over Michaelides’ dismissal, saying citizens “lost a great ally that protected the state’s finances, and by consequence the public interest.
“The deep state managed to obliterate the last pillar” against corruption, she added.
