Re-tests on people receiving blindness benefits on the Ionian island of Zante have exposed a fraud rate of over 82 percent, Greece’s largest social security agency said on Monday.
The Social Insurance Institute (IKA) said that it had re-tested 221 people after an inquiry ordered by the health ministry last year.
Of those, 182 were cleared as healthy. Another 146 people failed to turn up.
The health ministry last year ordered a probe after over 600 people on the popular tourist island — around 1.5 percent of the population — were found to receive blindness support.
Zante, or Zakynthos in Greek, subsequently became known as the ‘island of the blind’ in news reports.
Greece’s chaotic account-keeping has led to massive waste of state funds for decades.
Last year, labour ministry officials had revealed that millions of euros annually had been spent on retirement payments to long-dead pensioners.
(source: AFP)
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