The President of the Republic Mr. Nikos Anastasiadis received today, at the Presidential Palace, the annual report of the Office of the Auditor General for 2016.
Presenting the Report, the Auditor General Mr. Odysseas Michailidis said that the volume of the Report has been greatly reduced and the reason is because the Office, based on the suggestion of the British experts, has changed the practice of preparing the reports and issues individual reports for each which completes.
He added that therefore this Report includes the list of Reports issued as well as the audit report on the financial report issued by the General Accountant of the Republic of Cyprus.
Finally, Mr. Michailidis thanked the President of the Republic for their cooperation.
Receiving the Report, President Anastasiadis, after congratulating Mr. Michailidis for the work of the Service, said that "you know very well my views, you know very well my positions. An unwavering stand is necessary in order to combat any abuse, whether of power or embezzlement of public money. "
President Anastasiadis stated that their cooperation so far was excellent and added that "what I had said last year and in previous years was, with the completion of the investigations (these) to be made public so that they are always documented."
He also said that there may have been disagreements on both sides, which is also human, in terms of responsibilities rather than in terms of how it works, but the co-operation was flawless.
Finally he said "I wish you the best and to continue your work for the good of our place".
Besides, in his statements to the journalists after the presentation of the Report, Mr. Michailidis explained that now after the completion of the audit of each organization, and after receiving the opinions of the auditee, the report is drafted and made public. He added that this addresses the problems of report leaks and makes them even easier to use.
Mr. Michailidis stated that based on the suggestions of the British experts, there is an effort to upgrade the way of application of the international standards followed by the Service, something that, as he said, has already begun to be reflected in the issued Reports, expressing the belief that this improvement in the future.
Asked to comment on the criticism that in the way he exercises control, Services are paralyzed, Mr. Michailidis said that anyone who claims that in Cyprus today there is a bureaucracy bigger than the one that existed in 2011 and 2012, has no contact with reality.
He added that "the way to deal with bureaucracy and distortions or inefficiencies in the public sector is not to assure civil servants that they will not be held accountable if they violate their obligations but by setting clear goals and deliverables that they must have in the performance of their duties.
"These are the modern ways of increasing productivity and not to adopt a culture of impunity and for the civil servant to think 'no matter what I do, I am sure I will never be called to account,'" he said.
Asked if he finds a change in culture in Cyprus, the Auditor General said that "little by little, not only because of the work of the law enforcement authorities in general, and they include the Legal Service and the Police, but also because of a change in mentality of citizens who now show zero tolerance In cases of mismanagement, this spirit of impunity, which was well established in the Public Service, I believe has begun to slowly dissipate. "
Asked whether he believes his strategies have benefited the citizen and whether public revenue has been saved, he expressed the belief that based on pan-European measurements of the large amount of corruption owed to the citizen, "every citizen should be it is obvious that the whole grid of control can only bring good to a country's economy ".
Asked about the issue of OPAP, Mr. Michailidis stated that "what the Service has described in its announcement yesterday explains the reaction of OPAP. "As you understand at the moment, very serious criminal offenses are being investigated against OPAP and it is the right of the organization to choose any way it wants to defend or blur the waters".
He added that he does not know if OPAP is trying to provoke the events in some way in order to reveal who had given the Audit Office the complaints that led to the start of all these investigations.
"What I can assure you is that under no circumstances will our Office report to anyone who had the goodwill to provide information which, if proven to be true, would lead to the disclosure of very serious criminal offenses," he said.
Asked to comment on statements that the amounts given to the Government are correct, Mr. Michailidis said that the specific issue has been fully clarified as the Attorney General has given two opinions on the matter and currently the General Accounting Office of the Republic at the base of these opinions has begun the preparation of the amounts that should be required by OPAP.
"We are talking about some tens of millions that should be demanded from OPAP and returned to the Cypriot taxpayer because this money has been used by OPAP in a way that is not in accordance, as the Attorney General has explained, with the contract, which governs its operation in Cyprus ", said Mr. Michailidis.
Source: GTP
Source: RIK News