Deputy auditor-general accuses predecessor of sidelining him for years

Deputy Auditor-General Kyriacos Kyriacou has rejected suggestions that he is unwilling to work or is responsible for his limited involvement in the Audit Office, accusing former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides of creating the very situation he is now criticising. During the House finance committee meeting on October 30, now Alma MP Michaelides said it was unreasonable to request an additional post of director while the deputy was “sitting around, merely taking part in the reports, with no duties, and another director has to be hired because he cannot be managed”. In a written statement Kyriacou said it was necessary to set the record straight. “I categorically state that I consistently carry out all the duties assigned to me. Any claim or insinuation that I do not wish to work or that I am responsible for my limited involvement is entirely unfounded,” he said. Kyriacou said he had repeatedly requested additional and more substantial responsibilities, initially verbally and subsequently in writing, but had received no response. He explained that while the Constitution provides for the deputy auditor-general’s participation in the work of the Audit Office, it does not fully specify the position’s individual duties. In the absence of specific legislation governing the office’s operations, responsibility for assigning those duties rests with the serving auditor-general, within the constitutional framework. “Consequently, responsibility for the limited utilisation of the deputy auditor-general cannot be shifted onto him, particularly when he has repeatedly requested additional duties,” he said. Kyriacou claimed the situation began during Michaelides’ tenure, when responsibilities he had exercised beforehand were removed. “The situation was created during the tenure of the former auditor-general,” he said. He alleged that this marginalisation included restrictions on his access to official files, exclusion from official activities and refusal to implement constitutional provisions concerning the deputy auditor-general standing in for the auditor-general. Kyriacou said he had repeatedly warned the relevant institutions in writing about the situation and the serious risks it posed to the proper functioning of the Audit Office and constitutional order, requesting action but receiving no meaningful response. “It is therefore, at the very least, paradoxical that the former auditor-general now appears to criticise as a problem a situation which he himself created and maintained for years,” he said. Kyriacou concluded that he would not accept damage to his reputation over circumstances he had neither created nor accepted without protest. “I will not accept my reputation being damaged over a situation I did not create, which I repeatedly reported and for which I continue to request specific action to remedy,” he said.