If the government has nothing to hide, it should let the Auditor General exercise scrutiny
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on the relations between the Attorney General-Auditor General
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 26th October 2020, Nicosia
The Attorney General’s attack on the Auditor General is – to say the least – institutionally untenable. The Attorney General, as well as the Auditor General, are independent officials and they do not guard each other.
Nor does the Attorney General have the role of a guardian of the Constitution. This role belongs to the Supreme Court.
The Attorney General must be doubly careful when making statements as he himself is also implicated in the case of the ‘golden’ passports, since he was a member of the Council of Ministers of the Anastasiades government that approved the granting of citizenships/passports.
The Auditor General has the authority and duty to exercise scrutiny, within the framework of the constitutionally defined terms, where there is public money and the possibility of revenue evasion for the state. This is the work the Auditor General is entitled and needs to carry out in the case of the “golden” passports that have shamed our country and which has become a hotbed of corruption and abuse.
The major institutional, political and moral issue, however, is the government’s stance on the passport industry scandal itself. If the government had nothing to hide then not only would it not hinder, but it would have sought the carrying out of an investigation and scrutiny.
The entire Cypriot society is wondering what the government is scared of and who the government is covering up.
