Politician ‘helped two non-prisoners onto POW allowance list’

A politician aided two individuals who were not prisoners of war to be added to the official list and receive an honorary allowance of €2,000 a year, president of the POW’s association Vassos Christou said on Tuesday. Christou was speaking at the House refugees committee, which was examining an audit office report on benefits paid to prisoners of war. He said two people had come to the association and said they were helped by parties to get on the list, even though they only held certificates as enclaved residents, but no prisoner certificate. “A politician approached them and said, I will sort you out and he helped them,” Christou claimed. Christou also claimed some individuals held briefly by Turkish forces while enclaved had presented prisoner certificates without being prisoners, and still receive the allowance. Diko MP Zacharias Koulias said those arrested by Turkish forces in 1974 were asked whether they wished to stay in their villages or cross to the government-controlled areas, so they may never have entered the Red Cross prisoner register. Christou replied that the Red Cross had asked people from the occupied areas the same question and registered them. At Koulias’ request, the session was then closed to journalists so that names could be submitted. Committee chairman and Akel MP Nikos Kettiros said afterwards that Christou should file an official complaint with the police, and that the party mentioned in the closed session should not be named. He called for the three registers, held by the National Guard, the defence ministry and the Red Cross, to be merged into one. Disy MP Giorgos Lysandrides also urged Christou to give information to the authorities and said full transparency was needed so that no doubt falls on parties or citizens. Alma MP Litsa Drousiotou called for immediate steps to record all genuine beneficiaries fully. The hearing followed a special report published by the audit office last Thursday, which found eight questionable payments to people recognised as prisoners of war and warned there may be more. It found that 852 people received at least one of the benefits in 2025, with about €8.93 million paid out. The benefits include a monthly honorary allowance of between €5.23 and €83.68 and a six-monthly lump sum of €1,000. Auditors first found 150 recipients who could not be matched with Red Cross records. Of these, 130 were later located in the defence ministry register and 20 appeared in neither. For six of the 20, no evidence was found that they had been prisoners of war. Auditor-General Andreas Papaconstantinou said the system was fragmented, largely manual and reliant on records that are incomplete. “The number of ineligible recipients receiving benefits may be higher,” he said, noting that only a sample was examined.