Close allies of the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel have this week faced court and sackings from their jobs within the north’s largest ruling political party the UBP and its civil service, with court cases against two of his closest associates now ongoing.

His undersecretary Huseyin Cahitoglu was handed a seven-day remand on Friday after having been arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes, extortion, and other charges.

On Thursday, police officer Ethem Hoca had told a court in northern Nicosia that the Turkish Cypriot police believe Cahitoglu “unlawfully received €220,000 and £35,000 [€40,087]” for “transactions to be carried out in government offices in Nicosia between 2022 and 2024”.

Additionally, Hoca said, Cahitoglu had offered a bribe of £200,000 (€229,071) to a civil servant “in exchange for signing a document to illegally lease land to a third party”, while he had also allegedly requested a £200,000 bribe from another person to “carry out illegal transactions”.

Hoca also told the court that a search of Cahitoglu’s house had turned up two nine-millimetre magazines and 50 rounds of ammunition in his bedroom.

Meanwhile, the former head of the UBP’s Kyrenia district women’s branch Fatma Unal also appeared in court earlier this week, facing 12 charges related to the “fake diploma scandal”, including that she obtained a fake degree herself from the now infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) in Morphou.

Unal has enjoyed a years-long close personal relationship with Ustel which saw her rise to the chairwomanship of the UBP Kyrenia district women’s branch, though she was removed from that post by the party last month, and appeared in court in Morphou on Monday.

There, prosecution lawyer Damla Guclu said Unal faces “multiple and serious accusations”, while Unal’s lawyer Doga Zeki disagreed, stating that the accusations of which his client stands accused are not “serious crimes” as “a fake diploma is not an official document”.

Unal was released on bail and will next appear in court on December 12.

Another Ustel ally to face difficulties this week was Tahir Serhat, who was sacked from his position as undersecretary of the ‘labour ministry’ on Thursday.

Serhat’s position had appeared to look vulnerable in August when it was widely reported that the ‘labour minister’ of the day, Sadik Gardiyanoglu, was preparing to relieve him of his duties amid internal skirmishes within the UBP ahead of October’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

Another Ustel ally to face difficulties this week was Tahir Serhat, who was sacked from his position as undersecretary of the ‘labour ministry’ on Thursday

Ustel stepped in at the time to sack Gardiyanoglu and replace him with Oguzhan Hasipoglu, but not before relations between Gardiyanoglu and Serhat became embittered to the point of Gardiyanoglu taking job responsibilities off his undersecretary, reportedly over Serhat’s refusal to sign off on work permits offered to third country nationals.

In response, Serhat wrote in a social media post about “two types of arseholes I have met”, while allies of Gardiyanoglu leaked to the media that Serhat had on at least one occasion arrived to work armed and performed his duties at the ‘ministry’ while carrying a gun.

Three months on, however, he has now been relieved of his duties, with Gardiyanoglu responding to the news by posting a photograph of a coffee to his social media.

Reports on Thursday night suggested that Serhat had also been arrested on corruption charges, but he swiftly denied this, telling news website Haber Kibris that “I am sat in my house”.