The House Legal Affairs Committee will return on Wednesday to a long-stalled debate over whether to grant investigative powers to Cyprus's Anti-Corruption Authority, taking up not only the original 2022 bill but also newer proposals filed by DISY and ALMA lawmakers.
The push to give the Authority investigative powers is not new. It dates back to a bill filed by MPs Charalambos Theopemptou and Alexandra Attalidou on 22 September 2022, which subsequently stalled in parliament as parties and MPs raised various legal objections and constitutional concerns to avoid bringing it to a vote. However, the findings of the so-called "Mafia State" report, and the potential criminal offences it identified against former President Nikos Anastasiades and 12 other former officials, appear to have eroded those earlier reservations. A strong parliamentary majority now appears to be forming in favour of granting the Authority investigative powers.
Wednesday's committee session will also examine more recent proposals filed by DISY MPs Dimitris Dimitriou and Giorgos Pamporidis, along with ALMA MP Michalis Paraskevas. These bills would empower the Anti-Corruption Authority to conduct and complete its own criminal investigations into corruption cases involving officials, concluding with a documented recommendation on whether criminal prosecution should proceed.
The proposals
Under the proposed framework, criminal investigations into corruption cases would no longer be carried out by police under the supervision and direction of the Law Office, but by independent criminal investigators appointed directly by the Authority. In cases involving current or former senior officials, the proposals would allow for investigators to be appointed from abroad, intended to maximise the independence, objectivity and impartiality of the process. Under this structure, the content of investigations and witness testimony would not be made known to third parties, significantly reducing the risk of leaks and, by extension, the potential for witness influence or intimidation. Most significantly, the proposals would drastically limit the scope for interference in investigative work aimed at covering up corruption cases.
Once each criminal investigation is complete, the Authority would submit its findings to the Attorney General, accompanied by a clear, thorough and reasoned recommendation on whether to pursue criminal prosecution. Even where the leadership of the Law Office ultimately decided against prosecution despite a positive recommendation from the Authority, that decision would become particularly difficult, effectively impossible, without substantial justification.
It is worth noting that during the original debate over establishing the Anti-Corruption Authority, the Cyprus Bar Association had intervened with then-Justice Minister Emily Yiolitis, requesting that the Authority be granted expanded investigative powers to make it more effective in combating corruption. The letter, signed by Orestis Nikitas, head of the Bar Association's Anti-Corruption Committee, and dated 16 March 2021, warned that without substantive investigative competencies, the Authority would be unable to achieve the purpose for which it was created. The letter cited the findings on the economy and on the Cooperative Bank collapse as characteristic examples, noting that despite their serious findings, neither had ever led to criminal accountability. According to the legal community, both scandals, linked to the collapse of the Cypriot economy and the closure of the Cooperative Bank, were effectively shelved without anyone being held accountable.
