No answers are given by the Government, to the essential issue, “which has nothing to do with the number of investigators but with who will choose them, who will appoint them and with what institutional legalization”, he says in his announcement about his conclusion “Mafia State”the movement Jumpadding that it creates an “obvious conflict of interest issue.”
As ALMA explains, the President Christodoulidis, the Council of Ministers, whose Council of Ministers is called upon to decide on the management of the finding and on the appointment of the investigators, was a Minister during the administration Anastasiadeswhile also testifying as a witness in the case, something that creates a “conflict of interest”
Same announcement:
With two obstacles and an obvious conflict of interest, Christodoulidis, but will he decide for the investigators?
The statements of the Government Representative that the appointment of a group of criminal investigators for the conclusion of the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority is being considered do not answer the essential issue, which has nothing to do with the number of investigators but with who will choose them, who will appoint them and with what institutional legalization.
We remind you that the Assistant Attorney General Savvas Angelidis was excluded because he was a minister of the Anastasiades government. We also remind you that Public Prosecutor Elena Cleopas was excluded from the so-called “Prosecution Council” because she was a witness in the case.
The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis, gathers both of these obstacles since he was a minister of Nikos Anastasiadis, while he also testified as a witness in the case. This creates an obvious conflict of interest issue. Despite this, he presides over the Council of Ministers which is called upon to decide on the management of the finding and on the appointment of the investigators.
The appointment of criminal investigators by the Council of Ministers is not the normal institutional route for handling such cases. The body was involved exceptionally, as a solution of necessity, precisely because the heads of the Legal Service have an obstacle. However, the emergency solution cannot be institutionally more problematic than the normal way.
ALMA has tabled two legislative proposals to strengthen the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority so that it can appoint independent criminal investigators and ensure real and visible independence.
Until ALMA’s legislative proposals are passed, the only solution that can ensure that the process is, and also appears to be, immutable is for criminal investigators to be selected by the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority and formally appointed by the body deemed most appropriate based on the existing context.
We call on all parties to place themselves clearly. Accountability is not ensured by tainted processes. It is ensured only by independence from the beginning.
