A public row between the island’s Attorney General and Auditor-General over who should investigate the embarrassing and now scrapped Cyprus investment for citizenship scheme seems to be taking wider dimensions.
And if the two independent state officials do not reach a compromise agreement, the Supreme Court will have to take the final decision.
That is, whether Auditor-General Odyseas Michaelides has the constitutional power to carry out a parallel investigation ordered by Attorney General George Savvides and approved by the Council of Ministers.
In the meantime, Michaelides on Tuesday dismissed rumours he is eyeing the next presidential election and that’s why he is playing on the rising anti-corruption sentiment in Cyprus.
Asked to comment on the strong rumours, he said he was not interested in the presidency and that his priority is to perform his duties in the Audit Office diligently and independently.
He also dismissed the star status granted to him by government officials and said that in recent years he has limited public positions as there is now an appointed Audit Office spokesman who made a total of 65 television appearances last month.
He also clarified that he does not serve the interests or policy of any party in Cyprus but it was normal that opposition parties supported him.
Both his role and those of the opposition, he added, is to pin-point bad practices applied by respective governments and try to correct them.
