By Angelos Anastasiou
As the row between Interior minister Socratis Hasikos and Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides shows no signs of letting off, on Thursday, the chairman of the broadcasting authority joined the fight on the minister’s side in accusing the audit boss of abusing his constitutional power and turning his post into a “media spectacle”.
“It is with sadness that I note that you have, unfortunately, turned the institution of auditor-general into a media spectacle,” Andreas Petrides wrote to Michaelides.
“It is, of course, your prerogative to seek publicity passionately. However, the information I have become aware of, pertaining to behind-the-scenes transactions with journalists, coupled with selective leaks to the press, are highly alarming and dangerous.”
In the letter, dated December 10, Petrides replied to an earlier letter by the auditor-general from Monday relating to the authority’s operation.
“To begin with, I note that baseless accusations and arbitrary conclusions abound in your letter,” Petrides said.
“Its content reeks of McCarthyism and amounts to an effort to intimidate, vilify, and persecute the Executive Chairman of the independent Cyprus Radio-television Authority.”
Michaelides had told Petrides that a department employing 25 people could not justify the existence of two executive heads – in addition to executive chairman Petrides, the CRTA is co-headed by executive director Neophytos Epaminondas.
“The Executive Chairman’s view, which is shared by the CRTA’s board, is that the existence of the post of Executive Chairman, as well as Director, is a necessity,” Petrides said.
The letter implied that Petrides’ wrath was provoked by Michaelides having gone as far as recommending that one of the two posts be scrapped, as the existence of two heads constituted “squandering of public money”.
The chief auditor proposed to the finance ministry that the post of executive chairman be axed, because – contrary to that of director – a job description has not yet been issued for it.
Meanwhile, Michaelides’ 2014 annual report, issued on Monday, described how a complaint filed by a market-research company against MEGA TV-channel in 2012 for allegedly mis-presenting the findings of a survey conducted by the firm was handled by the authority.
The investigation revealed Petrides had been professionally linked with the woman heading the research firm, and had to recuse himself from the case.
In November 2013, the CRTA decided to revisit the complaint, but the investigation was terminated a year later, when Petrides declared that the case could not proceed because the “case file had been lost”, and that the research company withdrew its complaint.
“With regard to the complaint filed by Insights Market Research against MEGA TV-channel, the complainant has retracted the complaint in writing and does not wish for the case to proceed,” Petrides wrote.
Regardless, Michaelides recommended that the authority takes it upon itself to investigate the matter further.
A further point that infuriated Petrides was Michaelides’ pointing out that, in addition to chairing the CRTA, Petrides also sits on a committee evaluating football clubs’ finances, appointed by the Cyprus Football Association.
Also on the committee, Michaelides found, is Christakis Christofides, shareholder and director at ANT1 TV-channel. Further, he found, CFA chairman Costakis Koutsokoumnis also holds shares in ANT1.
Michaelides linked these professional connections with allegations of lower fines imposed by the CRTA on ANT1 than state-owned CyBC.
“In my view, your effort to vilify me by claiming that my participation in the said committee and my other activities suggest any direct or indirect interest in any audiovisual media provider, lacks seriousness,” Petrides replied.
