Lieutenant colonel arrested in north’s fake diploma scandal

A lieutenant colonel from the ‘TRNC security forces command’ was arrested in connection with the ongoing “fake diploma scandal”, it emerged on Wednesday.

The lieutenant colonel appeared in court on Wednesday morning and was remanded in custody for two days, with the Turkish Cypriot police believing the doctorate he obtained from the now-infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) to be forged.

Meanwhile, Yeni Duzen surmised that the mobile telephone which Ersin Tatar’s bodyguard Serif Avcil claimed to have “lost on the way to the police station” while being arrested on Friday may be located inside Tatar’s official residence in northern Nicosia.

The newspaper said it is unclear whether police have performed a search of Tatar’s official residence.

Avcil remains in custody, having received a six-day remand on Tuesday.