Army exemption ring in the National Guard enrages society

 

27 May 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Recent press reports in the printed and electronic press reveal and confirm a number of networks/rings operating inside the National Guard. These new cases of scandals have enraged and frustrated the young generation of our country and have caused outrage throughout the society who hear about youth securing suspension/exemptions from military service, transfers and discharges of soldiers for a hefty fee.

We stress that it took anonymous complaints lodged by citizens for this case to be solved. The DISY-Anastasiades government itself has turned a blind eye for years, evidently because it was comfortable with serving specific interests. Furthermore, it goes without saying that one of the two suspects, the former military doctor, had been selected by the Ministry of Defence and had been participating for some years now, for a hefty fee, in medical councils where he took decisions on applications seeking the suspension of soldier’s military service for psychiatric reasons. The Ministry of Defence must provide explanations

AKEL demands a full investigation into the case, bringing the perpetrators to justice and the dismantling of the clientelist netwotk inside the National Guard, as well as all those that have thrived under the DISY government.