Attorney-general George Savvides on Wednesday pointed to President Nikos Christodoulides as being behind the leak of his legal findings that let Christodoulides off the hook for €55,000 the audit office stated Christodoulides should have returned to the state.
In a statement, Savvides made three brief points, ostensibly saying the leak did not come from the legal service but the presidential palace.
He specified any rulings by the legal service are bound by confidentiality clauses.
Additionally, publication of any findings either in part or their entirety “falls under the executive power which receives them”.
In all cases when the attorney-general had been called by the press to comment on whether he had sent his legal opinion to Christodoulides, the attorney-general had said it was “up to the recipient to decide if and when it should be published.”
Savvides’ findings were leaked to InBusinessNews a day earlier which wrote “the legal analysis carried out by the auditor-general [sic, the former] was wrong and as a result reached wrong conclusions.”
The case concerns audit findings published under former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides’ tenure that found Christodoulides had wrongly received allowances and benefits during his term as government spokesman and diplomat.
Michaelides also published a report over Christodoulides’ use of a service vehicle as spokesman, which had prompted a major row at the time.
Savvides rubbished all the findings, and in his legal opinion said Michaelides was wrong and had overstepped his powers.
The former auditor-general was quick to hit back saying Savvides had sent his findings only days before he took the step to have Michaelides fired.
This points to “the relationship between the presidential palace and the legal service. The legal service ‘wrote off’ the president’s dues and he silently gave the green light to request my dismissal.”
