Investigation opened into doctors over alleged prison sick leave certificate fraud

Nicosia, Cyprus. A criminal investigation is under way into a general practitioner and an orthopaedic surgeon after the audit office found evidence suggesting collusion with prison officers over falsified sick leave certificates.

The audit office referred its findings to the attorney-general’s office, while a departmental official has given investigators a statement naming the two doctors under scrutiny.

Audit report findings

The referral followed a special report on the prisons department issued in March, examining prison staff sick leave records from 2022 to 2024.

Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou told Politis that findings pointing to “serious suspicions of collusion between doctors and prison officers” had been forwarded to the competent authorities for further investigation.

Sick leave records examined

Investigators identified 171 people who exceeded the statutory threshold of 42 days of sick leave in at least one of the three years reviewed.

Among them, 44 exceeded the threshold in the final two years of the period and 34 did so in all three years.

Certificates linked to two doctors

The review focused on eight prison officers who were absent for between 43 and 229 days annually and collectively submitted dozens of certificates issued by the same two doctors.

In one case, an officer absent for 205 days in 2023 and 202 days in 2024 submitted about 111 certificates during the two-year period. Of those, 105, or about 94 per cent, were issued by the two doctors under investigation.

The audit office cross-checked the certificates against visit records held by the Health Insurance Organisation through the national health service, Gesy.