Police arrested the Paphos community leader on suspicion of theft

Police in Paphos arrested a community leader in connection with theft after he allegedly took some €3,400 from the coffers, it emerged on Saturday.

An unknown whistle-blower reported to police through the public hotline that the suspect had been forcing the two cashiers to hand over cash. In return, he wrote personal post-dated cheques that were deposited to the council’s account.

Since January 2019, 17 cheques worth around €2,806 were deposited to the council’s bank account, police said.

At the same time, the public official took some €3,427 from the coffer allegedly to pay council bills.

To date, the suspect has not presented any receipts relating to the bills he was supposed to have paid, and the council remains €3.427 short.

Police arrested the man just after 6.30 pm on Friday.