Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou boarded a bus wearing a wig, with photographs of his escapade having been leaked into the public domain on Tuesday.

Later in the day, audit office spokeswoman Yiota Michael told television channel Alpha that Papaconstantinou had boarded the bus in the disguise, which also included a pair of sunglasses and a hat, “as he wanted to ascertain the situation on the public transport system and the problems faced by the public”.

“The reason for the disguise was so that there would be no possibility of the workers’ behaviour being altered,” she said.

She then added that the photograph had been saved on an electronic folder within the audit service’s intranet, and that a photograph of a computer screen had been leaked.

As such, she said, Papaconstantinou has reported the situation to the police.