MOB FIGURES may not have dictated who gets stationed where, but DISY boss Nicos Anastassiades said yesterday he still smelled a rat when it came to the recent police reshuffle.
He was speaking a day after handing Police Chief Iacovos Papacostas a memo documenting suspicious reassignments of members of the police force. Anastassiades kicked up a storm last week when he claimed that the force was rife with corruption and party meddling.
“It’s not as if the underworld handed a list [of names] to the Chief of Police or to the Justice Minister. Rather, crime figures used their influence, and with the right political connections and affiliations, managed to get certain officers transferred so that they could then continue their [unlawful] activities in peace,” the DISY leader said, conjuring up images of Gotham City.
But how else could one explain the fact that a number of officers who had just completed a training course in combating electronic crime were reassigned to another post where their newly-acquired skills were useless, asked Anastassiades.
He was referring to Larnaca’s Crime Prevention Unit, where 11 of its 14 staff were moved during the recent reshuffle, which in total involved 241 transfers.
In one case, claimed Anastassiades, a relative of a betting shop’s bouncer was transferred to the local Crime Prevention Unit. The same bouncer, Anastassiades said, had previously complained about the police crackdown on his establishment.
The DISY chief revealed that the dodgy transfer was revoked after he came out with his accusations.
The DISY chief revealed that the dodgy transfer was revoked after he came out with his accusations.
The government is calling it a redistribution of resources; DISY remains unconvinced, saying that several cases smacked of nepotism.
The right-wing party says also that the government’s “rotation argument” held no water. Among other things, Anastassiades said Limassol’s Crime Prevention Unit was “dismantled” after 19 of its members were reassigned and only seven new staff were brought over. The unit’s commander and deputy were transferred out of Limassol despite having been stationed there for just three months. Meanwhile, other officers with far longer service kept their posts.
Anastassiades wondered why, despite the uproar over the escape and recapture of convicted murderer ‘Al Capone’, very few changes were made at the Drug Squad.
Although DISY’s memo to the Police Chief contained descriptive information on fishy transfers, it’s understood that in private Anastassiades and Papacostas did discuss names.
Newsmen hounded Police Chief Papacostas yesterday after a summary of DISY’s memo was leaked to the press.
“The memo is being studied…our door is open to anyone who has any information to share with us,” Papacostas said.
DISY spokesman Harris Georgiades said yesterday that his party had done its part, furnished the information, and it was now up to the government to act on it.
“Even the President of the Republic spoke of corruption in the police force, in the wake of the Kitas events. And the Police Chief has admitted that mistakes may have been made in the transfers. The ball is now in the government’s court,” Georgiades said.
Meanwhile ruling AKEL yesterday came to the President’s defence, answering criticism why it took Christofias six days to respond to DISY’s allegations.
During an outburst on Sunday, Christofias dropped a loaded comment, wondering why DISY had such a “fascination” with the underworld.
“May I remind everyone that the President was in mourning after the passing of his father-in-law, last week” AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou explained.
He also rejected the notion that the ruling party had meddled in police business, calling DISY’s remarks “insulting.”
