In statements after today's meeting, Mr. Savides said that together with the Assistant Attorney General he considered it necessary to further assist the investigating authorities in their work, also on the basis of the actions included in the updated National Horizontal Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
To this end, he said, the Corruption Investigation Coordination Team was set up under the auspices of the Legal Service, whose first meeting was held today and was attended by the Chief of Police, the head of the MOCA, the Head of the Criminal Section of the Legal Service, the Police Director of the Crime Investigation Department and other officials.
Mr. Savides said that the Team, which is essentially a specialized mechanism for coordinating the criminal investigation of corruption offences, has as its terms of reference the supervision, guidance and coordination of procedures for the investigation of serious criminal corruption cases, as well as cases likely to involve elements of corruption.
He said the head of the Team shall be the Attorney General or the Assistant Attorney General or his representative, under whose direction the Team shall exercise its terms of reference. The Team, he added, would include experienced officers from the Legal Service, the MOCA and the Police, with each Service appointing its representatives.
Ad hoc participation will be open to representatives of other public or wider public sector authorities or organisations, where and when their involvement or information is deemed necessary for the handling of a particular case. It is always understood that the Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General, the Chief of Police and the Head of the MOCA will be able to participate in all meetings of the Group, regardless of whether they have their own representatives in this Group.
As regards the responsibilities of the Group, which will meet both on a regular basis and on an ad hoc basis at the offices of the Legal Service, Mr. Savides said that its members will inform each other of serious corruption cases and/or cases likely to involve elements of corruption that are under investigation, with a view to providing guidance, coordination and effective oversight of cases.
In particular, he continued, members of the Group, acting within the remit of the Service they represent, will, inter alia, address issues of overlapping responsibilities between Services or agencies involved, decide on measures to ensure adequate coordination between the Services involved, where required, and provide advice and guidance to the investigative team examining a particular case, where required.
"The purpose of both the Assistant Attorney General and myself in establishing the Corruption Investigation Coordination Team is to have cooperation with the recently established Independent Anti-Corruption Authority, with each agency of course acting in its area of competence and without affecting in any way the constitutional powers of the Attorney General as derived from the Constitution," he said.
Asked what is the difference between this group and the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority, Mr. Savides said there is no difference, noting that this group was set up to create a flexible team within the powers of the Attorney General, with the aim of having a ready coordination body that can meet on a regular basis to coordinate the constitutional role of the Attorney General.
He clarified that it will not interfere at all in the work of the Independent Authority, it will not be a body to receive corruption complaints. "I don't want to give the impression that we are setting up yet another body that will handle and make annual reports on the actions taken," he said, noting that this is a flexible team that aims to coordinate the constitutional and investigative powers of the Attorney General.
In response to another question, he said that the institution of the AG is the one that will have direct contact with the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority, adding that the newly formed team has not yet made any contact with the Authority. But certainly, he said, there will be cooperation as there is full cooperation with other authorities such as the Transparency in Sports and the Investigation of Complaints Against the Police.
Asked what was the need for the creation of the team, he said that the collective wisdom, the exchange of views from various departments that have to do with the fight against corruption was deemed to be helpful. These findings, he added, along with the possibility of involvement of government agencies that would add a new dimension to the investigation of such cases like the Department of Revenue and Customs, were factors that led to the decision to set up this Group.
He also said that the Group would meet at regular intervals as well as where it was felt that there were serious issues that required the Group to be convened in exceptional circumstances.
Asked if the Group had prioritised certain cases, Mr Savvidis said that as Attorney General they have prioritised many decisions, such as those stemming from the findings of Ms Kalogerou and Mr.
In relation to the issue of naturalizations, Mr. Savvidis said in response to a question that, as he had said in the past, everything that has seen the light of day has caused tremendous anger and indignation.
With regard to the issue of naturalizations, Mr. Savvidis said in response to a question that, as he had said in the past, everything that has seen the light of day has caused tremendous anger and indignation. However, he clarified that since then he had asked for people's understanding, knowing the time needed to properly investigate and substantiate cases.
He said the prosecution is not interested in taking quick steps to satisfy the sense of justice of the society but to make proper procedural steps so that any case brought before the courts can be properly substantiated.
He also made the
call for avoiding people's courts,
the use of names and situations while cases are under investigation. He expressed the expectation that more such cases would soon be brought before the courts.
Asked how many passports were revoked, Savides said he is not the one who decides to revoke citizenships. He added that when he received the Nicolatos report, he sent the part with the people whose citizenship should be revoked to the relevant authorities, and for some time now, by decision of the Cabinet, the process of revocation has started.
Regarding the issue of Russian sanctions, he said that whenever advice has been requested from the Ministry of Interior or another government agency, the Legal Service provides it immediately. He added that he has called for the establishment of a coordinating group to monitor Russian sanctions with the participation of two lawyers from the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic, as well as senior officials from agencies and ministries. This commission, he said, meets regularly to discuss issues related to the implementation of sanctions against Russia, a matter which, he explained, falls within the competence of the executive branch.
Asked whether the names for citizenship revocation included four Russian oligarchs with Cypriot passports on the sanctions list, he said that the findings of the Nicolau Commission concerned a specific group of individuals with a recommendation for citizenship revocation and were mainly people who had obtained citizenship in violation of the conditions in force at the time. Being on an EU sanctions list is a completely different matter."
Asked if there is anything new in the case of former Speaker of the Parliament Dimitris Syllouris, he said that massive investigative work has been at the Legal Service for a few weeks now. He added that its detailed and thorough examination, under the direction of the Assistant Attorney General and a team of lawyers is proceeding at a fast pace and is in its final stage for final decisions to be taken.
Source: CNA
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