Cyprus must quickly adopt a code of conduct for members of parliament, warns the Council of Europe’s “Group of States against Corruption” (GRECO) in a report published on Tuesday (https://bit.ly/32ObOg0 ).
Among the recommendations advocated by the GRECO from 2016 onwards, reaffirmed in 2018 but still not implemented, are stricter control of asset declarations, which are currently too fragmented, and a more detailed analysis of conflicts of interest and lobbying. The full implementation of these recommendations is all the more pressing, the report points out, as “serious allegations of undue influence of third parties over some MPs” with regard to the sale of passports through the Cyprus Investment Citizenship Programme.
In the same report, GRECO welcomes the adoption of a Judicial Code of Ethics, which is now binding on judges, and the proper functioning of the Judicial Training School, where integrity training sessions have already been provided.
With regard to prosecutors, a new bill providing for and safeguarding the independence and autonomy of the Law Office of the Republic has been submitted to the Executive. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)