Criticism fails to subside over the appointment of an unqualified teenage student as a consultant at the Mediterranean island’s Deputy Ministry of Tourism.
The scandal came to the fore on Monday after a damning report by the Auditor General’s office basically said the appointment of a 19-year-old woman who does not hold any university degree “is patently illegal and abusive”.
The report also recommended that Deputy Minister Kostas Koumis “does not implement such a plan and to disassociate himself from such a commitment,” Philenews reports.
The appointment would be equal to an A8 grade, which requires a university diploma, and earns an estimated €30,000 a year.
Moreover, the Auditor General’s office also referred to the Cabinet’s decision in March 2019 which defines the framework for the employment of state consultants/associates.
It is crystal clear that, amongst others, consultants must be 21 years of age and hold a university degree.
Shortly afterwards, government sources leaked that there was a new Cabinet decision in November of that year in which the previous decision was annulled. Their effort was to stress that the employment of the 19-year-old at the Deputy Ministry was done legally.
The Auditor General’s off, however, hit back again highlighting – in a new letter – two disturbing facts.
That is, both the scandalous way the previous government handled the matter and the fact that the lack of a legal framework does not legitimize the employment of a person in the position of a consultant without a degree.
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