More than 9 million lei in cold-month allowances and social benefit was allocated to persons who falsified documents in order to be included in the lists of recipients during five years, the Social Inspectorate established as a result of inspections, IPN reports.

Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga told a news conference that during the unplanned inspections carried out in 23 districts, there were identified cases when social workers modified data in the applications for social benefit or included relatives and acquaintances in the lists of recipients. The Social Inspectorate’s employees discovered over 4,300 errors and frauds in the provision of social welfare. The secretaries of local councils, social workers, division heads and the applicant families are the main accomplices in the fraudulent schemes.

The reports with the inspection results were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office for examination.

According to the official data of the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, 438 million lei was allocated in 2012 from the state budget for providing social benefit, while 71 million lei for offering cold-month allowances. About 30,000-40,000 families receive social benefit of 600 lei per person on average.