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Transmission of complaints to the Anti-Corruption Authority on matters concerning, inter alia, actions of the Assistant Attorney General
In response to a statement issued today by the Assistant Attorney General, the Audit Office notes the following:
(a) Our Office had received a complaint involving allegations concerning the conduct of the Assistant Attorney General in the black van case. This matter is not within the purview of our Office. However, in reviewing aspects of the complaint to confirm certain facts before forwarding it to the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority ("the Authority"), issues have arisen involving procurement contracts to the State for which we have very serious findings. The whole package, i.e. the original complaint and our findings, was sent to the Authority on 10.5.2023. We do not wish to say anything else about this case because it involves confidential public contracts. This was our choice from the beginning and we will remain in this position.
(b) On 17.5.2023 we sent a second letter to the Authority. This involves three separate cases.
The first concerns the investigation of serious tax matters of a company of interests of persons exercising public influence. This case is an audit finding of our Service and was incidentally identified in the context of audits on the Cyprus Investment Programme (CIP). We consider the matter as very serious because the end result of the manipulations was to prevent the tax authorities from auditing the company. The same company was also the subject of our very serious findings in relation to the CIP, which the Legal Service did not consider it necessary to investigate.
The second case concerns an alleged abuse of power in relation to the suspension of criminal prosecutions under the Common Criminal Code. This is a case that saw the light of day yesterday and on which RIK reported and asked us for comments. The third case is of a similar nature. For these two cases we simply acted as forwarders to the Authority.
(c) We have emphasized in all our statements that, in the above reports, despite the seriousness of the allegations, we are not making an accusation against any person, since this must be the result of an investigation by the competent authorities. We stress, however, that, as we have repeatedly emphasized, our Office is not under the tutelage of either the Attorney General or his Assistant Attorney General. Nor do we need their permission to responsibly and officially inform the public about matters that see the light of day. Nor are we going to be silenced by anyone who, in the form of a threat, makes reference to 'deliberate attempts at targeting', 'dangerous behaviour' and 'arbitrariness and bad faith', all of which must be 'put to an end'. Indeed, what is happening, with the acquiescence of the Attorney General himself as we understand it, is unprecedented.
(d) We also reject as totally unacceptable the report of the Assistant Attorney General who is targeting the Auditor General because a member of his family, namely his 25-year-old son, is criticizing him on social media. This is also indicative of the same above unacceptable mentality of silencing everyone.
(MB)
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