In an urgent circular sent to all social insurance funds on Wednesday, Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis launched a drive to collect all their files on state pensioners in order to cross-check the information these contain.
The ministry’s goal is to completely purge the pension system of fake or fraudulent pensions by 1 January 2013 and stop further losses of funds. This includes uncovering all illegal pensions, or double and triple pensions that exceed the legal payment limits. Also, it will be made sure that all pensions are paid in a legal manner and that all the sums received are declared to the tax office and due taxes are paid.
“From now on, no social insurance benefits will be given without the Social Insurance Registry Number (AMKA) and the Tax Registry Number (AFM). These two unique numbers that concern the tax and social insurance obligations of every citizen will now be used in the best possible way,” the ministry underlined.
This is the first time that such an extensive cross-checking of pension payments is being attempted and that the entire pension system is being treated as a whole. Previously, the system was entirely fragmented, with each pension and social insurance fund unable to access information concerning the benefits and pensions given by other funds. This led to a loss of resources in terms of benefits that should not have been paid and in terms of taxes and contributions that were not paid.
Source: AMNA