Parliamentary oversight of the Audit Office discussed in committee meeting

On Thursday, the Parliamentary Committee on the Monitoring of Development Projects and Control of Public Expenditure held a session involving Auditor General Andreas Papakonstantinou. During the meeting, former Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides, now serving as a member of parliament, requested that the Audit Office submit its internal management team minutes to the committee. These minutes contain details regarding the approval, initiation, and completion of audits. Mr. Papakonstantinou refused this request, characterizing the requested documents as strictly internal records that cannot be shared with the legislature. Committee President Zacharias Koulias announced that, moving forward, all Audit Office reports would be submitted directly to the committee, which will decide which reports to register for legislative discussion. A dispute arose regarding the extent of parliamentary oversight over the Audit Office, with Mr. Michaelides arguing that the committee has the authority to request such documents, while Mr. Papakonstantinou maintained that the office's internal operational documents remain outside the scope of external parliamentary control.