NICOSIA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) — For the second time in two days, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, slammed Cyprus for being reluctant in introducing adequate anti-corruption reforms.

“We made 16 recommendations and only two were applied,” GRECO Executive Secretary Gianluca Esposito told a press conference Friday after his team concluded a two-day survey in Cyprus.

“We expect full compliance with the other 14 recommendations”, he added.

Esposito said his team had found out that there is an active process for introducing reforms, adding that he sees no reason why Cyprus should not apply GRECO’s recommendations.

Cypriot Justice Minister Jonas Nicolaou said the GRECO team was informed about a bunch of bills on reforming justice on the lines suggested by GRECO.

But Esposito retorted that he did consider the legislation adequate, adding that bills could be evaluated until after their final approval by parliament.

He was also critical of a new code of conduct of the judges issued last week by the island’s top judicial body, the Supreme Court, following public accusations of judges being in conflict of interest situations.

GRECO has set a time limit for Cyprus to comply by the end of 2019.

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