The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje alone is conducting several proceedings due to suspicions of fraud related to the fictitious employment of persons with disabilities in order to gain unlawful material gain through state subsidies from the Professional Rehabilitation Fund of the Employment Agency.
"This prosecutor's office is currently conducting proceedings against several legal entities, responsible persons in legal entities, and natural persons for abuses in the employment of persons with disabilities through the Employment Agency, while there are no cases filed related to the abuse of the right to disability benefits and other social benefits," the prosecutor's office told "Vijesti" (News).
In the past three years, "Vijesti" has published several articles with data on the very large increase in the number of people with established disability certificates, as well as that employers are reporting a significant number of them with salaries much higher than average, even amounts above the salaries of the Prime Minister and ministers or directors of the most profitable companies.
In 2018, 660 people with disabilities received wage subsidies, while now that number has exceeded five thousand and is still growing. The amount of annual subsidies has increased from 2,7 million to last year's 33 million. This year, 23 million were already spent at the beginning of August, when the Professional Rehabilitation Fund went bankrupt and stopped making payments. In order to continue with these subsidies, a rebalance of the state budget is needed, and until then, the Fund is receiving lawsuits from employers for unpaid subsidies, which will only increase costs.
"Vijesti" also published data indicating possible abuses of the Law on Travel Benefits for Persons with Disabilities, as the total annual amount for reimbursement of travel expenses has increased in a few years from around 200 thousand to 8,6 million euros, which was paid out in just eight months of this year. During that period, beneficiaries reported that they had 149 thousand trips, for which they charged expenses. The articles also published data on the large increase in the number of beneficiaries of other people's care and assistance.
“Lockdown” in one city
All this is predominantly happening in three cities in the north - Rožaje, Berane and Bijelo Polje, but according to "Vijesti" sources from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Social Work Centers, the number of beneficiaries of these subsidies and benefits is significantly increasing in other cities as well.
Officers of the Crime Prevention Sector from Bijelo Polje, acting on the orders of the prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office from that city, launched an operation codenamed "Lockdown" due to suspicions of this abuse.
In recent days, "Vijesti" has sent questions to the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje, as well as the basic prosecutor's offices in the cities with the potential largest number of these frauds - Rožaje, Berane and Bijelo Polje, asking whether they are aware of cases of abuse of rights in this area and whether they have launched any investigations based on publicly published data.
The Berane Prosecutor's Office is awaiting a tip-off.
The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office responded that these are not questions for them, but that depending on the collected data and suspicions, these cases can be dealt with by the Special State Prosecutor's Office and the higher and basic prosecutor's offices. Only the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje confirmed to "Vijesti" that they have investigations into fraud in this area, while the SDT, the VDT from Bijelo Polje, or the ODT from Rožaje did not respond.
The Berane Prosecutor's Office stated that they are not aware of possible cases of abuse, and that they expect the Ministry of Social Welfare to first verify this information.
"The Berane Public Prosecutor's Office is not aware of cases of abuse of the right to disability benefits and other social benefits, through false findings and decisions, which caused multi-million damage to the budget. Also, no cases were filed in this prosecutor's office, nor was any procedure initiated to determine responsibility for illegal payments. The prosecutor's office has no information that individual employees in social work centers, medical commissions or other institutions that decide on rights to material benefits could have been involved in these abuses. We believe that inspections working within the Ministry of Social Welfare should check such information, on the basis of which someone's responsibility for criminal offenses that are prosecuted ex officio could possibly be determined," the Berane prosecutor's office stated.
The Ministry and the Inspectorate spoke about abuses
While prosecutors' offices are waiting for someone to report information about possible abuses from the relevant authorities, they have already spoken about them.
Last year, the Ministry of Social Welfare initiated changes to a set of laws in the field of social welfare, explaining that they were doing so to prevent abuses, which confirms that they had knowledge and knew that they were happening. However, after protests from some NGOs and employers - beneficiaries of subsidies, these laws were withdrawn in April of this year, and later other milder versions were sent to the Parliament that do not provide for a re-examination of disability, limitation of the amount of the subsidy, or additional conditions and controls of employers. All of these measures exist in countries that include these subsidies.
Also, last week, the chief inspector for social and child protection, Aleksandar Zuber, confirmed to "Vijesti" suspicions of a large number of abuses, stating that some of these trips from one end of the country to the other took place for 12 days in a row and that they were not realistically possible. He also said that the inspection is powerless and that the law needs to be amended.
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