The bill will go to the plenary on Thursday, February 17, the bill on the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority, with most parties positioning themselves in the plenary and the Citizens' Coalition of Ecologists tabling an amendment on the Authority's investigative powers.
The revised text was presented to the Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday for final comments and positioning. Committee President Nikos Tornaritis informed MPs that he had been in contact with the President of the Supreme Court and submitted a proposal that the outgoing President of the Court should be President of the advisory council and that the Commissioner of Administration, whose participation AKEL had objected to, should be removed from the recommendation.
Mr Tornaritis explained that the proposal will be presented by the President of the Supreme Court to the House for approval and if it is not approved, then the provision for the participation of the Commissioner for Administration, who will chair the Council, will simply be reinstated.
He also noted that as regards the reference to the House consulting the Minister who then submits to the President of the Republic the list of 15 persons to be appointed, a reference which may be considered unconstitutional, there will be better wording and instead of the word consultation the word information will be introduced.
'As explained by Mr. Tornaritis, the advisory committee is set up which submits a list of 15 persons to the Minister of Justice, the Minister comes to the Parliament, informs it and discusses with it and then goes to the Cabinet "and whatever they want to do there let them do it."
Mr. Tornaritis said that everyone's views and comments were heard in the Committee and finally the text of the bill, strengthened with full investigative powers, goes to the Plenary.
"We have come up with a powerful text and we must all support it in order to send messages to society," the MP said.
Fotini Tsiridou of DISY also submitted her concerns about possible unconstitutionality with the reference to 'consultation with the Parliament'.
On the part of AKEL, MP Andreas Pasiourtidis reiterated his party's disagreement on the participation of the Commissioner for Administration and added that the party would position itself in the plenary.
Panikos Leonidou of DIKO said his party would also position itself in the plenary and reiterated that the Commissioner should not participate. He also said that DIKO believes that it is better for academics not to participate than for the Commissioner not to participate.
DIKO's Christiana Erotokritou said that it raises a question of the legitimacy of any decision by society, even though the President of the Republic had said that he did not intend to report on the unconstitutionality.
On the EDEK side, Kostis Efstathiou said his party had raised the issue from the beginning that the intervention of the Parliament was extra-constitutional and unconstitutional, adding that even if the President did not make a report, a citizen might make a report.
Haralambos Theopeptou of the Ecologists said he had concerns about the participation of academics as they are considered a closed community and have, many of them, he said, connections with political parties. He also said he understands AKEL's concerns about the Commissioner of Administration however he agrees with the proposal of Nikos Tornaritis for the outgoing President of the Supreme Court.
The party will also table an amendment on investigative powers, based on the recommendations of the Bar Association.
Alexandra Attalidou said that if this amendment does not pass then a second one will be tabled to change the title of the authority.[BR]"For a state plagued by corruption we had to do not a step but something more," she said.
Bar Association President Christos Clerides reiterated the Association's recommendations for full investigative powers for the Authority on the model of the Authority to investigate complaints against members of the police. He said, however, that there was a significant improvement with the increased investigative powers, a first positive step had been taken and added that everything should be under constant monitoring and if gaps and deficiencies are found "then we should go to what we recommend, investigative powers."
Moreover, in statements after the meeting, he said that the bill approximates to some extent the positions of the Association, which welcomes the establishment of the advisory body but it should be disengaged in the procedures from consultation with Parliament.
He also referred to the reform of the judiciary saying that the Ministry is expected to submit amended proposals and all parties will take a position and reiterated the call for no further delay as this could lead to the collapse of the justice system. Already, he said, there is a huge number and appeals are delayed beyond six years with the citizens paying the price.
He also welcomed the provision for use of English in commercial court and admiralty court saying that this provision is in line with use of English in commercial courts in most of the EU countries (Germany and France) but the Bar Association has reservations about the way the provision is drafted.
On the issue of unconstitutionality a representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office recalled that the Public Prosecutor's Office had said from the beginning that we should be careful even with the word consultation, explaining that if something is subject to a mandatory condition, i.e. you oblige the executive to obtain the opinion of the Parliament, it is unconstitutional. But he said that since Parliament had said that the President would not make a report, there can no longer be another position from the Attorney General's Office.
Source: CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
