A criminal investigation is under way into the suspected abuse of sick-leave certificates at Cyprus prisons, with two doctors and eight prison officers under scrutiny over allegations that medical leave was obtained through false representations.
Investigators from the Police Headquarters CID are examining dozens of medical certificates issued to prison officers to determine whether the sick leave granted was justified. Evidence gathered with the assistance of the Audit Office has raised reasonable suspicions of coordination between at least two doctors, a pathologist and an orthopaedist, and eight prison officers.
Among those being investigated are officers who, according to the findings, were present at work for only two to three weeks a year in some recent years while continuing to receive their full salaries.
One prison officer was absent on sick leave for 205 working days in 2023 and a further 202 working days in 2024. To justify the absences, he submitted 51 medical certificates in 2023 and 60 in 2024. Of these, 48 certificates in 2023 and 57 in 2024 were issued by the two doctors under investigation.
The newspaper Politis reported on Tuesday that a criminal investigation is under way into two doctors and at least eight prison officers over the alleged securing of large numbers of sick-leave certificates through false representations.
The case follows testimony recently given by an Audit Office official to Police Headquarters investigators, during which the two doctors and eight prison officers were identified. In a special report on the Prison Department dated 10 March 2026, the Audit Office raised serious suspicions that the individuals may have acted in concert to defraud the state.
Comparison with GHS records
To establish whether the medical certificates corresponded to genuine consultations, the Audit Office requested information from the Health Insurance Organisation and compared the certificates with entries recorded in the General Healthcare System (GHS).
The comparison revealed significant discrepancies.
For four of the eight prison officers, the pathologist appears in the GHS as their registered personal doctor. However, a substantial number of sick-leave certificates issued by him were not accompanied by corresponding consultation records in the system.
In relation to the other four officers, the doctor was not recorded as their personal physician, yet he issued them a significant number of sick-leave certificates without matching GHS consultation records being identified.
A similar pattern was noted in relation to the orthopaedic specialist. Five of the eight prison officers submitted certificates from both the pathologist and the orthopaedist, while many of the latter certificates also lacked corresponding GHS records.
54 certificates linked to six consultations
The most striking case involved a prison officer who submitted 54 medical certificates in support of sick-leave claims.
However, only six consultations were recorded in the GHS.
Of those six visits, only three appear to correspond with submitted medical certificates, based on consultation dates and recorded diagnoses.
The Audit Office also identified cases in which the dates of recorded consultations did not match the dates of the sick leave. In some instances, consultations were recorded in the system on dates later than those for which the sick-leave certificate had already been issued.
Questions raised over diagnoses
Investigators are also examining the content of a number of medical certificates.
According to the Audit Office's findings, several certificates issued by the pathologist concerned orthopaedic conditions and injuries, including osteoarthritis, sprains, knee injuries and cervical syndrome.
At the same time, the reverse situation was also identified, with the orthopaedist issuing a sick-leave certificate to a prison officer citing migraine as the diagnosis.
The volume of sick leave, the repeated involvement of the same two doctors, the absence of corresponding GHS consultation records, inconsistencies in dates and discrepancies in diagnoses collectively led the Audit Office to record serious suspicions of possible collusion between doctors and prison officers aimed at defrauding the state.
The findings were forwarded to the Legal Service in March. Following a review of the material, instructions were recently issued for a criminal investigation to be launched.
