In the Plenary Session on February 17 the bill for Anti-Corruption Authority

The revised text was presented to the Legal Committee on Wednesday for final comments and positions.

imagew 12 corruption, Bill, plenary

The bill for the Independent Authority against Corruption will be submitted to the Plenary Session next Thursday, February 17, with most parties being in the Plenary Session and the Ecologists - Citizens' Cooperation submitting an amendment for the investigative powers of the Authority.

The revised text was presented to the Legal Committee on Wednesday for final comments and positions. The Chairman of the Committee, Nikos Tornaritis, informed the Members of Parliament that he had contact with the President of the Supreme Court and submitted a proposal that a retired judge of the Supreme Court, at the suggestion of the Supreme Court, be the Chairman of the Advisory Board. whose participation was opposed by AKEL.

Mr. Tornaritis clarified that the proposal will be presented by the President of the Supreme House to the House for approval and if it is not approved, then the provision for the participation of the Commissioner of Administration, who will chair the Council, simply returns.

He also noted that regarding the report that the Parliament consults with the Minister who then submits to the President of the Republic the list of 15 people to be appointed, a report which may be considered unconstitutional, will be better formulated and instead of the word consultation will be enter the word update.

As Mr. Tornaritis explained, the opinion is recommended which submits a list of 15 people to the current Minister of Justice, the Minister comes to Parliament, informs her and discusses with her and then goes to the Ministry "and let them do whatever they want there".

Mr. Tornaritis said that the views and comments of all were heard in the Committee and finally the text of the bill, reinforced with full research powers, goes to the Plenary Session.

"We have come up with a powerful text and we must all support it in order to send messages to society," he said.

Fotini Tsiridou of DISY also submitted her concerns about the possibility of unconstitutionality with the report 'consultation with the Parliament'.

On behalf of AKEL, MP Andreas Passiourtidis reiterated his party's disagreement with the participation of the Commissioner of Administration and added that the party will be placed in the Plenary Session.

DIKO's Panikos Leonidou said that his party will also be in the Plenary and reiterated that the Commissioner should not participate. He also said that DIKO considers that it is better for academics not to participate, than for the Commissioner not to participate.

DIKO's Christiana Erotokritou said that the issue of legality of every decision is raised by the society, even if the President of the Republic had said that he does not intend to report on the unconstitutionality.

On the part of EDEK, Kostis Efstathiou said that his party from the beginning raised the issue that the intervention of the Parliament is extra-institutional and unconstitutional, adding that even if the President does not make a report, a citizen may make a report.

Charalambos Theopemptou of the Ecologists said that he has concerns about the participation of academics as they are considered a closed community and many of them, as he said, have links with parties. He also said that he understands AKEL's concerns about the Commissioner of Administration, however he agrees with the proposal of Nikos Tornaritis for the President of the Supreme Court who has retired.

The party will also submit an amendment to the investigative powers, based on the recommendations of the Bar Association.

Alexandra Attalidou said that if this amendment is not passed then a second one will be submitted to change the title of the Authority.
"For a state plagued by corruption, we had to take not one step, but something more," he said.

The President of the Bar Association, Christos Clerides, reiterated the Association's suggestions for full investigative powers of the Authority in the model of the Authority for the investigation of complaints against members of the police. However, he said that there was a significant improvement with the increased investigative powers, a first positive step was taken and added that everything should be under constant monitoring and if gaps and shortcomings are identified "then let's go to what we suggest, to investigative powers".

Moreover, in statements after the meeting, he said that the bill approaches to some extent the positions of the Association, which welcomes the recommendation of the advisor, but this must be disengaged in the procedures from the consultation with the Parliament.

He also referred to the reform of the judiciary, saying that the Ministry is expected to submit amended proposals and all parties will be positioned and reiterated the call for no further delay because this could lead to the collapse of the justice system. He has already said, there are a huge number and appeals are delayed for more than six years at a price to be paid by the citizens.

He also welcomed the provision for the use of English in commercial and maritime courts, saying that this provision is consistent with the use of English in commercial courts in most EU countries (Germany and France) but the Bar Association has reservations about the wording of the provision.

On the issue of unconstitutionality, a representative of the Prosecution reminded that the Prosecution had said from the beginning that we should be careful even with the word consultation, explaining that if something is mandatory, ie you oblige the executive to obtain the opinion of Parliament, this it is unconstitutional. However, he stated that once the Parliament had said that the President of the Republic would not make a report, there could be no other position from the Prosecutor's Office.