The recommendation of the Corruption Investigation Coordination Team, which is under the auspices of the Legal Service and has as its terms of reference the supervision, guidance and coordination of the investigation of serious criminal corruption cases, as well as cases that may contain elements of corruption, was announced on Thursday, March 31, 2022 by the Attorney General of the Republic Mr. George Savvidis.
The Attorney General made statements to media officials at his office and then answered their questions. The text of the questions is as follows. Will this team be able to receive complaints from citizens?
Answer. The purpose for setting up this Team is precisely to enable us to create a flexible team within the framework of the constitutional powers of the Attorney General, which is to oversee the investigative work and make the necessary decisions in terms of guiding investigations and advancing criminal corruption cases. The reason why this Group was set up is to have a ready coordination body which can be convened and meet on a regular basis to coordinate the constitutional role of the Attorney General.
You will have seen that at least in the last several months very often meetings have been held with the Police to discuss various issues. This is a practice that we as the leadership of the Legal Service have adopted because we believe that there should be both constant and systematic guidance and oversight and instruction in the way the Police carry out their investigative work. So this Group will have a role specifically on corruption issues and that role will be similar to that of the other meetings that take place with the Police, in the Legal Service. The Group will meet at regular intervals, will not interfere at all with the work of the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority and will not be a body to receive allegations of corruption. Such complaints will be able, as provided by the Constitution and the laws, to be reported either to the police authorities or, under the recently enacted new law, to the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority - which we welcome and believe can play a positive role in the fight against corruption.
The Group is not institutionalised, i.e. I don't want to give the impression that we are 'setting up' yet another body that will handle cases and make annual reports on its actions. It is purely an internal, under the supervision of the Attorney General, if you like, flexible Group, which is intended to coordinate the constitutional powers and investigative powers of the Attorney General.
Question. Have you held a meeting with the heads of the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority?
Answer: As far as cooperation is concerned, it is the institution of the Attorney General who will have direct contact with the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority. We have not had any contact with them yet because the Authority is not yet operational. My understanding is that they are at the stage where the persons who will form the advisory council have been constituted into a body and they will proceed with the procedures to nominate the persons from which the President of the Republic will select the Chairman and Members of the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority. These persons have not yet been appointed, so there was no question of holding any meeting with them. But certainly, as the institution eminently responsible under the Constitution for the promotion of investigative work and criminal cases before the courts of Cyprus, we will clearly have cooperation with them, just as we have full cooperation with other authorities, such as the Ethics and Sports Protection Commission and the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police, with whom we have excellent cooperation. There is no way institutionally that the Attorney General's Office cannot have excellent relations and contact with all the Bodies which have a similar or relevant role and whose recommendations will end up for final decisions with the Legal Service and the Attorney General.
Question. Were there any gaps that needed to be filled?
Answer: Corruption is an issue that is quite complex and very difficult to deal with. And our experience has shown us that in many cases the collective wisdom and sharing of views from Departments, which can add their own experience in dealing with different issues, has been helpful. These findings of ours, and many times the fact that in some cases there was no involvement of competent governmental bodies, such as the Department of Taxation or the Department of Customs, which could potentially add a new dimension of great importance to the investigation of such cases, was not done to the extent that it could have been done. Consequently, this was one of the issues that led us to come to the decision to set up this Group. I believe that with the flexibility provided by its composition and the ability to expand with representatives from other government departments, it will be very helpful in terms of coordination and better efficiency in investigating to bring cases to the courts.
Question: When will this Group take the initiative? Does it come from your direction or is it a systematic contact of the competent authorities?
Answer: This Group will meet at the Legal Service on a regular basis. So, even if there is nothing specific, its members will meet to exchange views and consider how they can help to better coordinate the work of the prosecuting authorities. Of course, where and when it is deemed that there are serious issues that require the Group to convene in exceptional circumstances, this will always be done, ensuring and safeguarding that the Attorney General is constitutionally the one who decides the best way to investigate and forward criminal cases to the Courts.
Question: Have you prioritized any of the pending cases?
Answer. As such, cases stemming from the findings of the Kalogeros Commission and the Nicolatos Commission, for which we are constantly in contact with the police authorities to monitor the progress of the investigations. There are also a number of serious crimes that have been taking place in our country in recent years - whether they are organised crime, large quantities of drugs, homicides or serious assaults. Certainly all this is the subject of frequent meetings with the leadership of the Police, because we are interested to the greatest extent in being able to fight crime and bring to justice all those who commit serious criminal offences.
Question. Are there any developments? Are you expecting perhaps some files from the police?
Answer: I want to remind you of the first statement I made on this issue, when for the first time the question of investigating criminal cases was raised. I said that what we saw in the various publications and reports caused us enormous anger and outrage. At that time I asked, precisely because I knew what would happen, for people's understanding on the issue of the time needed to properly investigate and properly substantiate cases. We as a legal service are not interested in producing immediate results simply to satisfy - the justified - sense of justice, which we clearly fully understand. We as the Legal Service are interested in proper investigation, with proper procedural steps, so that any case we take to the Court can be properly established, so that it has as much chance of success in the Court as possible.
I have repeatedly called, and I repeat it now, for us to avoid setting up people's courts and using names and situations while cases are still being considered or investigated. I believe that the methodical manner in which the leadership of the Police is proceeding to investigate these serious cases, always under the guidance of the Legal Service, is such that I believe that we will soon see other cases arising from this matter being brought before the Courts.
Question: How many passports were revoked because they were problematic? How many will be or have been revoked following the Russian sanctions?
Answer: This is a question that should be addressed to the competent administrative body deciding on the revocation of citizenships. When I received the conclusion of the Nicolau Commission, which had a certain number of persons for whom it recommended the revocation of citizenship, I sent that part of the conclusion to the competent authorities. I know that some time ago, by a decision of the Council of Ministers, the process of revoking the citizenships of all persons in respect of whom, I understand that after the relevant investigation had been carried out, it was considered that the revocation of citizenship would be justified under the law.
The question of sanctions is another matter on which, whenever we are asked for any assistance on questions of a legal nature by the Ministry of the Interior or by any other Department of the Government, we provide it promptly.
The question of sanctions is another matter on which, whenever we are asked for any assistance on questions of a legal nature by the Ministry of the Interior or by any other Department of the Government, we provide it promptly.
We are constantly in contact with the Ministry of Interior and I even took the initiative to ask for a coordination group to monitor sanctions, which includes two colleagues from the Legal Service, one of whom is the Attorney General of the Republic, Ministers and senior officials from various departments and ministries involved. The group meets at very regular intervals to coordinate the sanctions decided from time to time. The implementation of sanctions, however, is a matter for the executive. Our involvement, which is very important, relates to the legal aspect. That is, there and where there are legal questions from the ministries, we are always at their disposal.
Question. Are these names that you also come across during the investigation of the findings of the Nicolatos Commission and the Kalogeros Commission?
Answer: I am careful what I say, because I do not want to add to the discussion about the number of persons, since it is not our responsibility to find out how many there are. What I can tell you is that the Nicolatos Commission's finding was about a specific group of people for whom there was a recommendation to revoke citizenship. These persons mainly consisted of individuals who obtained citizenship in violation of the conditions in force at the time, either because they made false declarations, or because they did not meet the conditions that they had to fulfil, or for any other reason. Being included in European Union sanctions is a completely different matter from whether one has correctly or incorrectly obtained a Cypriot passport. So, to the extent that we mandated the Nicolatos Committee to make recommendations, you understand that at the time when it made recommendations, the only issue was whether these passports were correctly or incorrectly issued on the basis of the existing regime. The sanctions were something that came up recently. There is, under the current legislation, the possibility of action being taken if an individual is covered by sanctions and that is an issue that when we are asked by the Executive, we will give our legal advice.
Question: Is there anything new in relation to the former Speaker's case?
Answer: As previously announced, this case, whose investigative work consists of a voluminous file, has been with the Legal Service for some weeks. It was a case which had several issues and difficulties which needed to be handled. Its detailed and meticulous examination, under the instructions of the Assistant Attorney General and the team of lawyers handling it, is proceeding rapidly and normally. I understand that we are in the final stage of making final decisions.
Question: Does a preliminary reading indicate criminal liability?
Answer: I cannot, nor would it be responsible for me to comment on something on which a decision has not yet been made by the Legal Service.
Question: When will you be ready to announce anything about the case?
Answer: I don't want to set a time frame. What I can tell you is that, the investigation necessarily had to take a long time, which unfortunately cannot be easily understood by the average citizen, because they don't know how you should be able to legally get that information that you can use in court. This is unfortunately where the anguish and the pressure from the public is. As a Legal Service we cannot act on what the public wants, but on what is right and what are the right steps by which the case proceeds. The right investigation was done by the Police and several times they came to us for guidance in relation to how to deal with serious and potentially new problems as they arose. The investigation was completed, the file came to our Office and for some weeks now there has been a thorough study by a specialised team from the Criminal Division of the Legal Service, under the Assistant Attorney General, and it is a matter of completing the study in order to make the final decisions, which we will announce.»
(ΜΛ)
31 Μαρτίου 2022
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