Fierce battle over ‘Cyprus papers’

A fierce battle over documents has began following Al Jazeera’s “Cyprus papers” on golden passports, with the audit office demanding to examine specific files and the interior ministry refusing to hand them over.

Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides says interior ministry officials have refused to hand over copies of documents in 15 specific cases, which he identified as part of a probe involving an audit into the citizenship by investment programme.

The interior ministry says it would not deliver documents unless the attorney general’s office issues an opinion verifying the request is within Michaelides’ constitutional authority.

But the auditor general is fighting back, saying his office had already received 5 cases from the ministry along with a full list of citizenships awarded after 21 May 2018. The list, according to Michaelides, did not include names but it was intended to be a reference guide in an effort to examine cases highlighted in recent reports made by Al Jazeera.

Government says AG overstepping boundaries

Government spokesperson Kyriacos Koushios, who went to state radio Wednesday morning, accused the auditor general of overstepping his boundaries.

“He cannot use politics to interfere with authority vested in others and he is not entitled to shape government policy, something which he has done many times,” Koushios said.

But centre-opposition party DIKO President Nicholas Papadopoulos says the auditor general has every right to probe into the matter.

"The auditor general ought to take them to court," Papadopoulos said, adding that the Legal department did not have a final say in the matter.

Newly-appointed Attorney General George Savvides, who left his post as justice minister earlier this summer, has not spoken publicly on the issue.

Back in November 2019, the president’s cabinet assigned a three-member committee to look into the investment programme.

The president of the committee, Demetra Kalogerou, said recently they looked into a number of applications including additional cases that were provided by the interior ministry following recent leaks as well as published stories by Al Jazeera.

But Kalogerou, who is Chairwoman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, also admitted last week that the cases were handpicked by the ministry and did not include all applications mentioned in the Al Jazeera investigative reports.

The auditor general says awarded citizenships not examined by the committee did not mean that his office could not expand its own probe both in number of cases as well as time periods.

Auditor General sets Friday deadline

Michaelides said if his office did do not receive the requested files by Friday, September 4, he would take it up with the attorney general.

"Thank goodness we have an agency that can carry out an effective audit objectively," the DIKO president said during his morning radio interview.

Legal experts said if the attorney general should be of the opinion that the interior ministry was not obligated to hand over any further information, the auditor general could then take legal course by taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.