THE LATE British politician Enoch Powell once said, “for a politician to complain about the press is like a ship’s captain complaining about the seas.” We were reminded of this, hearing Attorney-general Costas Clerides complaining on Wednesday about certain media outlets and urging them to stop their “irresponsible and misleading” reporting. The thin-skinned Clerides, also implied he was being targeted in responding to a question about his retirement, saying “I am sure many people will be happy about that date.”
Clerides spoke out after some press reports, saying that his office had spent some €30 million on the investigation into the 2013 collapse of the economy without achieving results. He did not confine himself to explaining that the figure was incorrect, but implied this was part of a campaign against him by some media. The press had included amounts for law-suits against decisions of the government (FBME and MIG) which had recruited foreign law offices to help fight the cases. In total, from 2013 to 2018, the AG’s office had spent €5.6 million to assist the police investigations into the collapse of the economy, the AG pointed out in a statement on Wednesday.
This amount was also excessive if it is to be judged by the results of the investigations. Despite spending all this money he secured one conviction – the former CEO of the Bank of Cyprus – which was overturned on appeal. Four Laiki executives and board members charged by the AG were found guilty of market manipulation and submitting false information and were fined by the court. Several other Bank of Cyprus board members facing charges were acquitted. The media were perfectly entitled to be critical of the underwhelming results of investigations that went on for years, even if the cost was €5.6 million.
Securing convictions may have been difficult. It was the president, in another display of his populism, that pledged to bring those responsible for the collapse of the economy before justice, not Clerides, but, in the public eyes, the responsibility for the failure to put anyone behind bars rests with the AG and this is why he has come under press criticism. It may be unjustified to an extent, because finding those responsible for the collapse of the economy, to which countless people – politicians, bankers, bureaucrats, developers – contributed in different ways was a near impossible task.
Clerides should take the stick regardless. If he did not want to be criticised by the press he should have remained in the cocooned world of the Supreme Court judges, but he chose to become AG and put himself in the firing line. It is poor form to complain now because he is not receiving positive write-ups.
