Court won’t decide on auditor-general’s dismissal before September

The decision regarding Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides’ dismissal will be announced starting in September, the Supreme Constitutional Court said on Friday during the last hearing of the ongoing case.

Legal teams presented their final arguments in the proceedings filed by Attorney-General George Savvides, seeking to remove Michaelides from his post on grounds of inappropriate conduct.

Lawyers from both sides referenced the past case of former Deputy Attorney-General Rikkos Erotokritou, who was dismissed for inappropriate conduct.

The attorney-eneral’s lawyer, Dinos Kallis, argued that Erotokritou had twice suggested that his boss, then-Attorney-General Costas Clerides, was corrupt. This alone warranted his behaviour to be deemed inappropriate, leading to his dismissal.

Meanwhile, Michaelides had suggested that both the attorney-general and deputy attorney-general had committed crimes “multiple times,” Kallis told the court, which is convening as a Council.

Kallis added that the term ‘inappropriate conduct’ is severe enough to render the person incapable of continuing to perform their duties in an honest and proper manner in the public interest.

In contrast, Michaelides’ lawyer, Jo Triantafyllides, argued that the attorney-general’s team portrayed the auditor-general “as a monster,” making Erotokritou seem angelic in comparison.

“We cannot claim that the facts of the Erotokritou case are identical.” Triantafyllides said.

Triantafyllides clarified that Erotokritou had not merely suggested the attorney-general was possibly corrupt; he publicly accused him of corruption. Erotokritou later admitted his accusations were inappropriate and apologised.

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