Greece has paid millions of euros a year on pension payments to long-dead pensioners, according to Greek Ministry of Labour officials.
We found one pension was paid to someone who had died in 1999.
The Ministry admitted it is currently paying pensions to some 500 claimants over 110 years old but recently discovered that over 300 of them had passed away.
“We found one pension was paid to someone who had died in 1999,” deputy labour minister George Koutroumanis told a news conference.
“We found people drawing a pension though they died five-seven years ago,” he said.
In some cases, the money was dutifully deposited in bank accounts and never claimed, the deputy minister said.
The authorities are now trying to compile a comprehensive pensioner registry and scammers will face prosecution, the ministry said.
Combined with efforts to root out false pension claims, the ministry hopes to reduce what Koutroumanis termed “profligacy and theft” costing 80 million to 100 million euros a year.
Greece’s chaotic account-keeping has led to waste of state funds for decades.
In addition to pension payments, billions of euros have been lost on overcharged hospital bills and fake prescriptions.
