Supreme court decision ‘abolishes democracy’
The Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to sack Odysseas Michaelides “essentially abolishes the audit service and democracy”, he told audit office staff on Wednesday.
In farewell remarks to his former colleagues after being officially dismissed by the court, he said, “it’s a blow, I shall just say it.”
“The audit office has been ransacked. This decision, as I said outside court, puts a corset, a gag, on the audit office,” he said.
For this reason, he urged his former colleagues to “be careful with your every word, every reference, what you say and what you write.
“This is not consistent with an audit office. The audit office has been ransacked.”
He added, “It is a shame for our country what happened today.”
“Unfortunately, it is all over,” he said, adding that the audit office will now be “monitored”, and added, “we have experienced scary situations. To transcribe every statement I made, and every statement by press officer made.”
“Now, we have another audit office, which will have to get the attorney-general’s approval before expressing an opinion. If the attorney-general says something, the audit office should not be expected to disagree,” he said.
He made reference to the liquefied natural gas terminal at Vasiliko and the issue of multiple pensions being paid to public servants – two issues on which he had openly disagreed with Attorney-General George Savvides, and said, “essentially, we are abolishing the audit office.
“We are doing what the attorney-general insisted. We are making it an annex of the legal service.”
He then turned his attention back to the ruling, saying, it means “there will not be another auditor-general who will depart from this norm they have decided to set for the audit office to be under control.
“It is a black day for Cyprus and a black day for our service”.