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Millions robbed as ghost pensioners strike By Chris
Kamalendran and Faraza Farook The five brothers from Warakapola, while drawing a pension they were entitled to, had fabricated documents and submitted applications, posing to be what they were not. Although they lived in Warakapola, they had given different addresses of other areas in the forged applications to avert the racket being detected by the Divisional Secretary. The racket came to light at a Divisional Secretaries meeting. The officers while having a casual conversation had inquired about retired professionals in one another's areas. They soon found out that there was something fishy. An investigation
was launched and the five brothers were arrested and charged in
courts. This is one
of the many cases where the Department of Pensions has been duped.
Department officials said that they were suspicious about certain
cases but they were handicapped to launch probes on them due to
lack of resources and a proper monitoring system. The dead, the
unborn and the living form a part of our pensioner population with
Government funds being used to pay several persons claiming to be
pensioners and receiving a pension by default and fraud. Losses
amounting to millions, as a result, go unnoticed. Failure to
promptly inform the death of a person, forged documentation, fabrication
of information and corruption in the Pensions Department and other
government offices have allowed unscrupulous persons to rob the
public fund. Although several
persons involved in the unauthorized drawing of other people's pensions
- some who are living, some dead and some not even in existence
- have been arrested, it was only a tip of an iceberg. According to
Pensions Department Director Victor Samaraweera, the department
has been duped to the tune of more than ten million rupees in the
past three years -- an estimate based on 25 cases detected. Some
cases have been going on undetected for several years. If all the
cases were detected, the loss could run into hundreds of millions
of rupees. Mr. Samaraweera
said drawing of pensions of dead persons was the most common form
of fraud. Procedural delays in the registration for pension also
allow time for schemers to get in the way and prepare false documents
to collect somebody else's pension. Even the smallest of opportunities
are made use of by the racketeers to duplicate documents. Although people are required to make their application for pension at least three months prior to retirement, many fail to do this. Last minute applications and incomplete documents result in delays with the applicant being sent back and forth. It is during
this period, that the fraudsters step in. Some corrupt officers
in government institutions who are handed over the documents and
the forms by the applicants, could possibly play a middleman's role
in passing valuable information to fraudsters. For instance, details such as employment number or registration number of a doctor are vital information that can be tampered to claim somebody else's pension. In the case of a dead person, the plot becomes easier as any person with an affidavit form a JP can receive the pension on the grounds that the claimant is ill or is not in a position to travel to collect it or is overseas. An often-used
practice, especially in post offices and banks, is the fabrication
of a JP's letter, authorizing a person to collect somebody else's
pension. No question is asked about the authenticity of the letter.
This has proved to be an easy way to collect the pensions of the
dead, department officials said. It always need
not be that an outsider is involved. Sometimes, family members,
in an attempt to continue to receive the pension, use various ploys.
Others who intend drawing a pension they are not entitled to, go
to the extent of even making up false documents needed to apply. In one instance
in 1999, a person had drawn the pensions of five people in the Homagama
area. When the racket was discovered, the Pensions Department found
out that none of the people in whose names the pensions were drawn
was living. The case is still pending in courts and disciplinary
inquiries have not been completed either. With a certified
letter from a JP (Justice of Peace) being all that is needed to
collect somebody else's pension, many a fraudster resorts to this
method to collect the pension from the post office or bank. In one incident, a son who did not inform the Divisional Secretary of the death of his father, continued to receive the pension of his father using a JP's letter. The letter had authorized the son to collect the pension on the basis that the father was ill. The son knew that the death of his father was the end of his pensions. All what he did was to befriend a peon at the Balangoda Post Office. No questions asked when he presented the JP's letter every month and continued to receive his dead father's pension till some officers at the Post Office, who were suspicious of the case made some inquiries and learnt that the old man died several months ago. Later, the son was ordered to pay the pension he had withdrawn over the months back to the Department of Pensions. Another ploy is drawing double or treble the amount of a pension one is entitled to. In another case of fraud, a retired teacher from Kegalle, while drawing his rightful pension, had made another application on the guise of a doctor. The retired teacher had fabricated the information needed for a second application and submitted false documents through the Nuwara Eliya Divisional Secretariat division. With his forged application being accepted by the Nuwara Eliya Divisional Secretariat division, he continued to draw two pensions until he was caught recently. He retired as
a teacher from a school in Colombo and was drawing his pension from
the Nugegoda Divisional Secretariat. It was when he got the pensions
transferred to Kegalle that his ploy came to light. "There
have been cases where one person receives double the original sum,"
Mr. Samaraweera said citing audit reports. He admitted
that lapses in certain sections of his department were a contributory
factor to this problem. The involvement of some of the internal
staff in helping out racketeers encourages such malpractices. In
some cases, staff in post offices and sometimes, even police officers
are hand in glove with the culprits. On a daily
basis, the department receives at least 125 applications and annually
20,000 applications for pensions. Of the 20,000, about 40% of applications
are incomplete and are returned to the departments or institutions
it came from. These applications
take time to reach the Pensions Department again. It is during this
period that forged applications creep in. Every month the Government
pays Rs. 2,600 million as pensions to 387,000 pensioners. The department
has been grappling with this problem due to lack of a proper monitoring
system to check on the frauds taking place. "It is during random
checks that we come across these frauds," admits Mr. Samaraweera. He said he were aware that some officers were corrupt, but unable to take disciplinary action because of problems in collecting evidence. Public Administration Minister Vajira Abeywardene laments that the Pensions Department suffers heavy losses by way of paying pensions to frauds. He said the government is taking every measure to minimize the problem. According to a recently introduced system, a pensioner can draw his pension only from the place of his permanent residence and from no other division. Earlier, immaterial of where one lived, one could withdraw his or her pension. Pensions Chief plans pensioner census, database With several
frauds going undiscovered and the Department of Pensions having
to bear the loss of such rackets, a census of pensioners in each
Grama Niladhari division is on the cards as a counter measure to
arrest the problem of non existing and illegal pensioners. As a first step in arresting those involved in fraudulent withdrawal of pensions, Pensions Department Chief Victor Samaraweera called on officers in government departments, including the Pensions Department, post offices, and the police to be more civic conscious in helping the department to eradicate such corrupt practices. "Officers
in these departments must take responsibility for the lapses taking
place within the department," Mr. Samaraweera said. "How
can such a serious lapse take place, without the assistance and
involvement of some of the officers here. How are these papers passed?" The absence
of a proper monitoring body or an active surveillance system is
no doubt a drawback in identifying illegal or unauthorised drawing
of pensions. Mr. Samaraweera
said he had scheduled meetings with District Secretaries and Pradeshiya
Sabha Secretaries who take responsibilities on his behalf in the
respective divisions, to brief them on the problem of ghost pensioners
and fraudulent drawing of pensions. With audit
reports showing instances where some people are receiving double
pensions, the department is trying to strengthen the internal audit
unit. Mr. Samaraweera
, who took over the department mid last year, said that the department
would soon be having a strengthened surveillance/monitoring unit.
"I have also sought the IGPs assistance in this regard as in
some instances, police officers are also involved and refuse to
entertain complaints." The department
is undergoing computerization which is expected to make it is easier
in detecting malpractices. A database, linking all Divisional Secretariats
with the Pension Department would be maintained, the Pensions chief
said. "The computerization
which we hope to complete by April will identify entries with the
same name or number. We also want to introduce along with the pensions
registration number the National Identity Card number to minimize
frauds taking place". Mr. Samaraweera said the department also lacked resources and staff. He said the department was not in a position to eradicate the problem completely due to a weak monitoring system, but was taking every step to minimize corruption. |
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