Bills prepared to ‘modernise’ legal service and audit office

Cabinet on Wednesday approved a set of bills which, if passed, will change the face of Cyprus’ legal service and audit office.

The government says the bills constitute “modernising” reforms, with the powers of both the attorney-general and the auditor-general set to be reined in.

The government said the legal service’s modernisation will entail a separation of the attorney-general and deputy attorney-general’s powers by establishing two new roles: those of a director of public prosecutions (DPP) and a deputy.

The government outlined that the attorney-general will remain as the state’s legal adviser and the head of the legal service, while the DPP and their deputy will undertake the attorney-general’s current responsibilities relating to public prosecutions.

In addition, the legislation relating to the legal service includes a maximum term length for all four roles, which, the government says, has been written “in line with the recommendations of various European and international bodies,” including the European Commission, the Group of States against Corruption (Greco), and the Council of Europe.

These changes, they said, will require amendments to the constitution’s provisions regarding the attorney-general’s role.

On the matter of the audit office, the government said they will establish an “audit board”, which will be composed of the auditor-general, the deputy auditor-general, and three other people.

Similarly to the attorney-general, the DPP, and both deputies, the government also drafted a bill to stipulate maximum term lengths for the auditor-general, the deputy-auditor general, and the three other audit board members.

The government said those arrangements are aimed at “further strengthening the independence, efficiency, and collegiality in the implementation of the audit office’s work.”

The matter had been raised at the House ethics committee’s meeting earlier on Wednesday, with discussions having centred around the European Commission’s annual report into the rule of law in Cyprus.

The separation of powers in both the legal service and the audit service had been one of the main matters raised in the report.

Hartsiotis pointed out at the meeting that the commission had “positively evaluated” the government’s efforts thus far to “modernise” the legal service, and that the commission had made no other citations in its report regarding the administration of justice in Cyprus.

With this in mind, he said his ministry has now finished drafting the bill to alter the formations of both the legal service and the audit office.

He pointed out that the changes to the law would require amendments to the constitution, and that these steps were to be presented to cabinet.

He said that once cabinet has approved the plans, meetings will be held with both the legal service and the audit office to offer “initial information on the legislation’s philosophy”, before both services will be given copies of the legislation.

Then, he said, the matter will undergo consultation and technical legal checks, before being eventually sent to parliament.

“These are two radical constitutional reforms, and they impact a series of existing laws and the passing of new ones to make everything legal,” he said.

However, auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides disagreed with Hartsiotis’ reading of the report, saying there is “no reference to the alleged modernisation of the audit service” in the report.

He added that there is “no other service in the Republic of Cyprus” which has so readily undergone modernisation, and that no study had been carried out regarding any future modernisation of the Audit Office.

“On the contrary, the only reports which exist are about the crucial role of the Audit Office in Cyprus is the fight against corruption. Although it is very rare for an audit office to change its form and model, Sweden did so in 2020, and in fact made its audit office more like Cyprus, having a single-member office, rather than doing the opposite,” he said.

Legal service representative Elena Kleopa said the legal service would “study the bills proposed by the justice ministry” and “contribute to them”.