It appears the Audit Office has been left out of the loop in the ongoing investigations into the citizenship-by-investment programme, based on a legal opinion by Attorney-general Giorgos Savvides.
Savvides has furnished a legal opinion by which the Audit Office will not – at least for now – get any files relating to naturalisations granted under the controversial scheme, it emerged on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Audit Office had requested from the interior ministry – handling naturalisations – to hand over a sample of files in order to determine whether the state had lost money in the form of taxes or other fees.
The ministry declined, but to be on the safe side it sought a legal opinion from the attorney-general on the matter.
Marios Petrides, an official with the Audit Office, told a local television channel that the attorney-general has since advised the ministry to not hand over any files “for the time being.”
The Audit Office had wanted to carry out a sample inspection, requesting around 15 random files among the thousands extant.
Petrides said their hands are tied – they have no legal recourse – because the attorney-general does not actually question the Audit Office’s jurisdiction to investigate the matter in its capacity as government auditor.
Rather, the attorney-general advises that the Audit Office not be handed the files for now – a question of timing, apparently.
For this reason, Petrides explained, the Audit Office cannot challenge this decision with the courts.
Not only that, but the Audit Office will not even be getting photocopies of the files.
In effect, it appears the Audit Office will have to wait until after the panel investigating the citizenships affair has wrapped up.
A day earlier, the attorney-general appointed a four-member committee of inquiry to investigate all citizenships granted between 2007 and 2020 as part of a state scheme to attract investment.
The panel will have to complete its probe within three months though it can ask for an extension if necessary.
One of this committee’s four members happens to be deputy auditor-general Kyriacos Kyriacou.
Asked about this, Petrides said that Kyriacou is participating on the panel in his personal capacity, not as a representative of the Audit Office.
At any rate, the Audit Office had in the meantime secured access to five citizenship files which it is currently examining.
Last month Al Jazeera went public with the names of several persons granted citizenship, including a number of allegedly shady individuals.
Initially, the government accused the Qatar-based broadcaster of engaging in propaganda and seeking to smear the island’s reputation.
Police have also launched an investigation into the source of the leak, which some suggested was someone in parliament. However, when officers sought certain documents from parliament, House officials refused to hand them over citing the legislature’s immunity.
