Eight correctional officers under criminal investigation for forged sick leave certificates
Eight correctional officers and two doctors are being investigated criminally for fraudulent health certificates without corresponding records in the national healthcare system.
Criminal investigation into fraudulent health certificates among correctional staff
Eight correctional officers and two doctors are under criminal investigation following findings that health certificates were issued without corresponding records in the General Healthcare System (ΓεΣΥ), as reported by Cyprus Mail.
The case focuses on alleged collusion between medical personnel and correctional officers, aimed at defrauding the state through forged medical leave certificates.
Audit Service findings
Investigators are examining numerous health certificates issued to correctional officers to determine whether the granted leave was genuinely justified. Evidence was gathered with the assistance of the Audit Service, which identified suspicions of coordination between two doctors — an internist and an orthopaedic surgeon — and the eight officers.
A special report concerning the correctional department, dated 10 March 2026, was the first to question the legitimacy of the absences. Subsequently, the Service requested data from the Healthcare Insurance Organisation (ΟΑΥ) and compared it with records in the national healthcare system. The comparison revealed significant discrepancies.
For four of the eight officers, the internist appears in the system as their registered personal doctor; however, for a large number of certificates he issued there is no corresponding visit record. For the remaining four, the same doctor was not even their registered doctor, yet he issued them numerous certificates with no corresponding visit appearing in the system.
A similar pattern was found with the orthopaedic doctor: five of the eight officers submitted certificates from both doctors, with many of the orthopaedic surgeon's certificates also lacking supporting records.
Absences of up to 205 working days per year
Among the examined officers are individuals who, according to the findings, attended work for only two to three weeks per year during certain recent periods, while continuing to receive their full salary.
The most striking case concerns an officer who was absent due to illness 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 which only six were not issued by the two doctors under investigation.
The most remarkable case concerns an officer who submitted 54 certificates to support sick leave requests, whilst only six visits appear in the system — and of these, only three appear to correspond with the certificates based on dates and diagnoses.
Discrepancy in diagnoses and dates
Investigators are also examining the contents of many certificates. It was found that certificates issued by the internist frequently cited orthopaedic conditions, such as osteoarthritis, sprains, knee injuries and neck pain. Conversely, the orthopaedic surgeon issued a certificate with a diagnosis of "migraine".
On the latter point, the Medical Association stated that a doctor with a valid professional licence may, under certain conditions, examine a patient and issue a certificate outside their specialty, and that this alone does not constitute misconduct.
In some cases, the dates of visits in the system do not coincide with the requested leave periods, whilst in other cases visits were recorded in the system after the certificate had already been issued.
The investigation began following a statement by an Audit Service official before police investigators, during which the two doctors and the eight officers were identified.
Source: Cyprus Mail