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Madam Chairman of the Committee,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the invitation to inform the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Budget about the Budget of the Legal Service of the Republic for 2024. Out of respect for time, in order to allow for the opportunity to subsequently respond to as many of the questions as possible, I will, as far as possible, be succinct in my statement, as a detailed analysis of the Budget can be found in the Note before you. It goes without saying that should you wish me to elaborate further on any matter relating to our budgeted expenditure or actions, I am at your disposal.
In summary, the Budget of the Legal Service for 2024, rounded off for your convenience, amounts to approximately €27.7 million.
[*]€26.5 million is allocated to cover the needs of the Legal Service, [*]€844 thousand is budgeted for the Office of the Law Commissioner and [*]€374 thousand for the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police.
By Budget allocation:
(1) total staff salary costs are budgeted at €15.2 million
(2) Regular and Development Expenditure is budgeted at €7.5 million. and
(3) the Fixed Fund is budgeted at €5 million
Compared to the 2023 Budget, a decrease of €5.5 million is evident. 5.5 million recorded for 2024, which is primarily due to the cancellation of the implementation of the approved project for the construction of the privately owned building of the Legal Service in Nicosia.
As regards the implementation of the Budget, by 1 November 2023 it reached 81%, with the overall implementation projected to reach 95% by the end of 2023. The three-year budgetary framework of the Service for the years 2024-2026 is presented in the table on page 54 of the Note sent to you.
Madam President,
Ladies and Gentlemen of Parliament,
The Legal Service of the Republic is a multi-level Service that produces key work for the Republic and its interests. Over the course of the last three years, our Service has radically changed the way it operates, organises, processes and responds to its obligations. The reforms we began in 2020 have borne fruit, and our work continues as we recognise that modernisation is an evolutionary process. The maximum benefit that can be derived from the implementation of the reforms introduced or to be introduced on the structure and organisation of the Legal Service is always our ultimate objective and the fact that several Ministers have, from time to time, praised the improvement in the speed and efficiency they receive in relation to the handling of their requests is satisfying to us as it is a tangible indication of the progress that has been made. Similarly, as part of our closer relationship with the House of Representatives, officers of the Legal Service now very often appear before various Parliamentary Committees and provide explanations on relevant bills, and we have decided to follow the same practice with proposed legislation. The improvement of the cooperation between the Legal Service and the Parliament has also been commented positively by representatives of the Parliament.
For 2023, our key actions are codified as follows. The establishment of the Public Prosecutors Section was deemed imperative because of the seriousness of the cases handled by the Public Prosecutors before the District Courts, the volume of their work and the priority given by the Legal Service to ensuring the effective and timely administration of criminal justice. For the first time, a Public Prosecutor of the Republic was appointed to head the Division.
Secondly, in the Civil Law Division, which is primarily responsible for handling court proceedings in the sphere of private law, the latest recording work carried out in February-May showed that the Division handled a total of 4,300 court cases, which is a huge volume. In order to work more smoothly and efficiently, the Division was divided into specialised sub-divisions based on the subject matter of the cases and priority was given to the out-of-court settlement of cases in order to reduce the number of cases filed or litigated before the courts.
Thirdly, the technological upgrade and digital migration projects of our Office are now in the final stage of completion. e-Law, which is the integrated information system for case and file/document management in the Legal Service and is the largest and most substantial digital reform project, so that there is uninterrupted monitoring of the progress of the work produced and the progress of pending cases, will be fully operational on 21 December 2023.
And on the serious issue of staffing, which we consider essential for the smooth and orderly operation of our Office, since July 2020 to date, 17 procedures to fill vacant permanent posts have been promoted and completed. In total, 97 organic positions of the Legal Service were filled, of which 29 were filled in 2023 and concern 5 positions of Prosecutor of the Republic, 14 positions of Lawyer of the Republic I and 10 positions of Public Prosecutor. Here I would like to thank again both the Finance Committee of the Parliament and its Chairperson for their prompt response to requests/requests for posts, as well as the Plenum of the Parliament for the prompt passage of the amendment to the Public Service Act that allowed the establishment of an Advisory Committee for filling the posts of Public Prosecutors.
At present there are still 40 vacant organic posts remaining to be filled, with 36 of them being promoted for filling at the present time.
Finally, a promising vision for the education, training and specialization of the staff of the Legal Service has been given "flesh and blood" and I am particularly happy about this, since the Legal Service Academy has not only been operating, already offering multifaceted activities, but has a rich work planned for the near future. I invite you to see the Academy's training programme for 2023-2024 included in the Budget Note on page 38, and I note that within the framework of the Academy's activities, cooperation with other institutions such as the House of Representatives, the School of Magistrates and the Pancyprian Bar Association is planned in parallel.
Madam President,
Ladies and Gentlemen of Parliament,
There are two issues that I particularly want to raise before you: The first concerns the autonomy of the Legal Service and the second, the postponed project for the construction of its new building.
I will start with the building. You all know where the Legal Service is housed. It is generally accepted that the building is outdated, unsuitable, does not provide security, is often flooded, resulting in erosion of the masonry, is energy-intensive, is unable to accommodate - let alone house - all the staff of Nicosia, while at the same time there are many daily operational problems. In short, we are housed in a building that used to meet the needs of much older decades and that today this building is unable to meet, not only in terms of space but also in terms of infrastructure.
The Executive, fully aware of the need, has initiated a procedure for the construction of a new modern building to house all the departments of the Legal Service. However, it is with great disappointment that on 29 September 2023 we learnt from the media the decision of the executive to cancel the tender for the construction of the new building for reasons of budgetary savings. For the record, the project started in 2020 and at the time of its cancellation was at an advanced stage, with a tender for the construction and maintenance of the building. We respect the executive's decision, but we do not agree with it because the needs and problems are not going to change. On the contrary.
With regard to the misinformation and inaccuracies that have been made about the cost, the square footage of the premises and the alleged luxury of the building, I inform you and I read to you from the note of approval of the Minister of Finance - that "even if a suitable building for rent were identified, it would cost, according to a study by the Ministry of Finance, around €7 million. per year it would cost around €98 million (calculated over 20 years) while the cost of the option of constructing a new building would be €45 million 846 thousand (calculated over 20 years)."
Whereupon the characterisation used as an alleged argument that the design of the building is "excessive and wasteful" is shot down like a house of cards. In exactly the same way, the alleged violation - by the construction of the building - of environmental legislation is shot down in the same way. These two issues were answered in a well-documented manner both by the Department of Public Works - which is the department legally responsible for planning and supervising the implementation of this type of development project and which drew up the design and specifications for the construction of the building - and by the architects of the building.
The second issue that I will address, and I will conclude, concerns the autonomy of the Legal Service.
This is a key issue for the further modernisation of the Legal Service of the Republic. The reasons why autonomy is necessary are set out in our Note, exactly as I explained them before the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs last May, since it is my wish that the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Budget be similarly fully informed.
Very briefly, I would like to recall that the European Commission's 2022 Rule of Law Report records a clear recommendation to "continue to improve the effective investigation and prosecution of high-level corruption cases, including by strengthening the Office of the Attorney General and its financial independence." .
In order to satisfactorily implement this last recommendation pending for the Prosecutor's Offices, we have informed the Committee that the bill has been approved by the Council of Ministers and is before Parliament. The Committee indicated that this is a positive step, but the chapter cannot be closed before the Bill is passed by the House of Representatives. It further noted that the only substantive measure achieved so far in this direction is the equalisation of salaries between judges and legal officials, but this alone is not enough to close this chapter.
Regarding the 2023 Rule of Law Report, the European Commission said, inter alia, that as regards the recommendations made in the 2022 Report, Cyprus has noted: "Some progress in continuing to improve the effective investigation and prosecution of high-level corruption cases, including by strengthening the Office of the Attorney General and its financial independence", but "...it is recommended that Cyprus: ...strengthen the independence and accountability of the prosecution authority, inter alia, by providing for the possibility to review the decisions of the Prosecutor General not to prosecute or to discontinue proceedings, taking into account European standards on the independence and autonomy of the prosecution authority....". In order to implement the above recommendations, the Legal Service, in addition to the draft bill on its autonomy, is considering the creation of an internal mechanism for the review of decisions taken in relation to the criminal or non-criminal prosecution of persons or the suspension of criminal prosecution, taking into account models of other common law countries, as well as the relevant provisions of the Cyprus Constitution. Once this study is completed, the final decisions will be announced.
Ladies and Gentlemen of Parliament,
Thanking you for your time and in conclusion, let me express my sincere thanks to my friend and colleague, the Assistant Attorney General of the Republic Mr. Savvas Angelides, to all the legal officers, the administrative and support staff of the Legal Service, as well as to my colleagues. I feel honoured to head such a Service where all of them act with incredible zeal, with great dedication and investing many working hours at the expense of their families and personal time.
Thank you and I am at your disposal.
(M/L/EAth/KKK)
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