Former Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides has published a letter sent to parliament’s Development Plans and Public Expenditure Control Committee regarding President Nikos Christodoulides’s allowances and benefits during his time as government spokesman from 2014-2018.
In the strongly-worded letter, Michaelides states it is “inconceivable that the President of the Republic has illegally received public money and refuses to return it, hiding behind made-to-order legal opinions that he keeps in the dark”.
The former auditor general alleges there was “mutual serving of interests” between the Presidential Palace and the Law Office on this matter. He claims the Attorney General acted as if he were “Christodoulides’s private lawyer” rather than an independent legal advisor.
The letter details several disputed payments, including overseas subsistence allowance of €20,804, use of an official vehicle, and accumulated leave worth €18,176 that was paid when Christodoulides left the civil service.
According to Michaelides, Christodoulides was never officially appointed as government spokesman but merely performed those duties while remaining a civil servant.
He argues this meant Christodoulides was not entitled to certain benefits he received.
“Society no longer tolerates these methods and behaviours. Citizens understand very well the mutual serving of interests between the Presidential Palace and Law Office”, Michaelides writes, calling the situation an “theatre of the absurd that imposes a law of silence in front of made-to-order legal opinions or even court decisions”.
The letter comes amid an ongoing dispute over an audit report published in December 2023 that found irregularities in payments made to Christodoulides during his time as government spokesman.
The president has denied any wrongdoing and sought legal opinions from the Attorney General on the matter.
Michaelides makes his letter public “for transparency reasons” while offering to provide further information to the parliamentary committee if they agree it is unacceptable for the president to retain allegedly illegal payments.
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