By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
He was certainly neither Socrates nor Jesus Christ, as his father wrote in a letter to Phileleftheros. He is something between Hercules and Cleon. With elements of both, but not in equal doses
Why will Odysseas Michaelides be remembered in history? Will he be remembered because he cleaned the Augean stables, because he rid Cyprus of corruption or because he made Cypriots believe that Cyprus is a country similar to Venezuela where all politicians, parties, judges and even civil servants of the state are corrupt and sold out?
* If the former is true, he will go down in history as a hero, as was Hercules, who cleaned the dung of Augeas, with his act rightly recorded as a labour. With Odysseas occupying a prominent place in the chorus of personalities who helped the Republic of Cyprus to raise its political level, but also to be counted ever since among the serious states where rule of law is observed.
* If the latter is true, Odysseas will remain to remind us of the Athenian general and demagogue Cleon. Cleon hired for a fee a vast number of Athenians whom he appointed as jurors and judges. Then, through rumours, slander and other accusations, he managed to manipulate public opinion and marginalise his political opponents, turning Athenian Democracy into a vast popular court, which had nothing to do with the distribution of justice.
Who is he?
Who was Odysseas? Hercules or Cleon? He was certainly neither Socrates nor Jesus Christ, as his father recently wrote in a letter to Phileleftheros. If we compare Hercules and Cleon, I have the impression that he had elements of both, but not in equal doses.
Hercules went down in history as efficient. He undertook to accomplish 12 labours and succeeded. Through his labours and having Iolaus by his side, he helped the people, ridding them of the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Erymanthian Boar, the Stymphalian Birds. Odysseas, on the other hand, although he had a whole army of accountants and auditors at his disposal, did not fill the prisons with the corrupt. The Calydonian Boar is running free, while the Lernaean Hydra of corruption has become three-headed. Someone might respond saying that Odysseas is not the Police, nor is he an Attorney General. Correct. He had every right, however, to send his reports and complaints to the Law Office which could bring all the “corrupt” before justice. One might insist on noting that Odysseas Michaelides was at odds with the current Attorney General George Savvides. This is not a sufficient excuse either. From 2013 to 2020 the Attorney General was Costas Clerides with whom he had an excellent relationship and furthermore together as a duo they appeared to be the ones who would strike at the root of corruption? What did he do all these years (seven in number) in collaboration with his friend Costas Clerides? How many bankers, accountants and politicians went to prison for the bailouts, kickbacks and passports that he himself reported? Probably none, a fact which confirms what was said from the start. Odysseas was not effective. Odysseas suffers from prima donna syndrome, so what probably interested him the most was being in the spotlight daily and consistently.
Let us not only be judgmental. On several occasions, as other predecessors of his have done without fanfare, he anticipated and warned in good time of undue expenditures and squandering of public funds. He also criticised various categories of public sector workers for unreasonable demands and for their low productivity, although this was not exactly within his jurisdiction. He warned about and documented a fair number of wasteful practices in GESY, talked about the flimsy procedures followed in the Vasilikos scandal, about illegal benefits of Presidents and ministers. He put under the microscope a series of decisions and moves of former President Anastasiades (Ryanair case, Pera Pedi, travels with the jet of the Saudi Arabian, passports).
None of them, as mentioned above, were punished. Perhaps that was not his goal. Deep down he believed that the one who checks power can in essence also rule. In due course, he began to bring out the politician hiding within, at the cost of the Auditor General. Every time this thought prevailed in his mind, he also made big mistakes:
Because of him, the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous road was not built. He decided a few years ago that it was too expensive, that it should not be a dual carriageway, that it had too many bridges and other things that were none of his concern. Recently, with his instructions, tenders were made for the same road with worse specifications and at three times the price, which again will never be done. Odysseas Michaelides is once again behind the construction of the unacceptable waste treatment plant in Pentakomo, while someone ought to come forth and tell us why Cyprus is currently burying rubbish and not treating it in accordance with European law and regulations. The plant in Koshi started operating and initially was charging us exorbitant amounts in processing garbage per tonne. The late Socratis Hasikos then brought the prices down below 30 euros by negotiating with the contractor, but the Auditor General wanted to re-open a new procedure. Today the company continues to be in Koshi, receiving even more garbage than Kotsiatis, which closed, but because the audit office does not accept anything, Cyprus is about to start receiving fines for illegal garbage management in addition to pollution.
In short, Odysseas was in charge of auditing against the squandering of funds, but with the tolerance of the former Attorney General and with fear as his weapon, which he managed to pass on mainly to the public sector, he proceeded to make huge and perhaps illegal interventions: Behind the construction of, for example, a road, there are a number of policies that are not the concern of an Auditor General. For example, economic policies, rural development issues, the fight against urbanisation, safety issues in the movement of citizens. Odysseas Michaelides could not and should not decide how many Cypriots will die on the Paphos-Polis road because he insisted that the road be cheaper. Cheaper does not mean better. His partiality also caused enormous irritation. He was a raging bull against some people, but politicians and businessmen in his own political sphere were untouchable. Socratis Hasikos accused him of worse: “He was putting out a report which was both incomplete and gave several people as prey to the masses.” He was exposing people to ridicule who in many cases were vindicated. He never came back to apologise. Eventually he fell into hubris. He reported the Deputy Attorney General to the [Independent] Authority against Corruption and for eight months he made sure to bring up – for obvious reasons – the report he made. He had every right to report Savvas Angelides. What he did not have the right to do was to continue to ridicule the Deputy Attorney General even when he was acquitted by the Body to which the Auditor General himself had reported him! That was the last straw and left no room for the Supreme Constitutional Court to excuse him.
His conduct was a given since he did the same in his own case. When on 26 April 2024 the Attorney General referred him to the Supreme Court, he said: “The unsubstantiated accusations that the heads of the Law Office are hurling at every opportunity against me and against the Audit Office will at last be able to receive an answer before independent and impartial judges and in particular, before the Council of the Supreme Constitutional Court.” Immediately after the conviction, Cyprus, in his words, became Venezuela. What does this show? That Mr Odysseas Michaelides does not respect any institution. Not even this country that for so many years has paid him handsomely to serve it.
Cleon
If Mr. Odysseas Michaelides had remained steadfast in his duties, namely to check the proper and prudent utilisation of funds, as dictated by the Constitution, if he had filed his reports to the competent bodies, if he had objectivity and sound judgement, if he had not been partial, he would be in his position today and certainly after his retirement he could be perhaps considered the most important official to have ever served the Republic of Cyprus.
Unfortunately, he did not make it. He failed. He started out as Hercules but ended up as Cleon. Let us not underestimate how dangerously creative a demagogue can be. Cleon had courage and boldness and did not hesitate to cause ruptures and even appear to be a bold reformist. What did he achieve? He managed to remove the οlympian Pericles from his position, he managed to marginalise his political opponents, he managed to turn Athens into a vast popular court, he managed to get groups and parties to hold street demonstrations in his favour. He managed to persuade members of parliament and orators to go out into the agora to shout that ‘after Cleon there is chaos, after Cleon there is no rule of law’. If Cleon were alive today, we are sure that he would have a website called ‘Support Group for Cleon, Champion of Anti-Corruption’. He would certainly control some committees in the House of Representatives and have some writers praising him from dawn to dusk. The most certain thing of all is that he would be gearing up for a movement and a party to continue his fight against corruption as a modern day Javert!
On corruption
Cyprus is neither Somalia, as many people think, nor Mexico, as Mr Nikos Christodoulides told us, nor Venezuela, as Mr Odysseas Michaelides told us on his way out. We are an EU country that is progressing but in which there are significant pillars of corruption that we need to deal with. Not with aphorisms of the kind saying that everyone, politicians, judges and journalists are corrupt. If they are corrupt, then the whole of the Cypriot people who vote for them are corrupt and foolish. In conclusion, those clean in this country are not only the former Auditor General Mr Odysseas Michaelides, the person in charge of his website Mr [Andreas] Hasapopoulos, the DIKO House Representative Zacharias Koulias, the AKEL House Representative Mrs Irene Charalambidou and the journalist at Phileleftheros Mr Giorgos Kallinikou. Who knows, maybe there are some others.
The crisis of the institutions is broader
The Supreme Court, based on the evidence presented before it, had no choice but to remove Mr Odysseas Michaelides. If the people who object to his termination are to some extent right, it is in that Odysseas Michaelides was not the biggest problem facing the Republic of Cyprus today. In general, the rule of law has huge gaps in Cyprus due mainly to the law of necessity and outdated institutions that need modernising, such as the Attorney General. This institution, which has been in operation since 1960, is suffering because of the excessive powers it has. This issue even affects the President of the Republic. He appoints these institutions without any checks. How was the Auditor General, Odysseas Michaelides, appointed? Averof Neofytou wanted to appoint a governor of the Central Bank in 2014 but Nicos Anastasiades decided to appoint Chrystalla Yiorkatzi. In order not to further displease Averof, Anastasiades decided to appoint Odysseas Michaelides to the position of Auditor General, who was his protégé when Averof served as Minister of Transport during the Clerides government. The situation has not changed since then. Perhaps it has gotten worse. If some concerned people today are complaining about the termination of the Auditor General, it is because they are terrified at the thought of which best man, which friend or which convenient person Nikos Christodoulides will appoint in his place.
