June 30 deadline for corruption action

CYPRUS has until the end of the month to respond to a 2001 Council of Europe (CoE) report inviting the island’s authorities to show that they have implemented recommendations to combat corruption.

In December 2001, the ‘Group of States against corruption’ (GRECO) issued a report on the phenomenon of corruption in Cyprus, detailing recommendations to strengthen the fight against corruption. The report also called on authorities to present a report on the implementation of the recommendations before June 30 this year.

One of the proposals outlined in the report was adopted in March, a month after Tassos Papadopoulos was elected President in February. The report urged that a “system should be established for the declaration of assets and interests of high State officials,” including those of members of Parliament, the President of the Republic and ministers. The assets of the President and his ministers were made public on March 15, fulfilling a pledge by Papadopoulos that members of the Cabinet would state their finances upon assuming their offices.

GRECO also advised authorities to establish a specialised body to advise on anti-corruption policy, “elaborating proposals for legislative change” and making suggestions for “the elimination of the conditions that enable or facilitate corruption.” The government is expected to inform CoE representatives that such a body will be created, made up of representatives of the Legal Service, the Justice Ministry, the police, as well as the head of the House Legal Affairs Committee, and the presidents of the Pancyprian Law Association and Cyprus Chartered Accountants’ Association.

Reports also suggest the Council of Ministers has approved a proposal to amend the law to oblige civil servants to report any suspicions of corruption among colleagues, as recommended by GRECO.

Other GRECO recommendations include the relaxation of restrictions on the use of electronic surveillance (such as telephone-tapping) to a level permissible by the European Convention on Human Rights, and an increased effort to raise awareness of the link between money laundering and corruption.

The evaluation report notes that Cyprus was one of the first countries to sign the Criminal and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption in January 2001.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.