The fictitious employment relationship was based on the EU regulation "On the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community", the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office said in a press release on Thursday.

The organizer of the scheme, identified in the press release by his initials G. G., was found guilty on all counts of fraud, false accounting and falsification and use of documents.

The 925 Polish citizens were fictitiously employed by a Vilnius firm so that their medical bills in Poland be covered by the Lithuanian Compulsory Health Insurance Fund.

Before the fraud scheme was discovered, the fund transferred 120,000 euros to Poland's National Health Fund. An investigation prevented an additional 80,000 euros from being transferred to the Polish fund.

The probe revealed that 420 out of the 925 Polish citizens fictitiously employed in Lithuania had consulted general practitioners, surgeons and dentists in their home country for various illnesses, with their bills, totalling 200,000 euros, sent to the Lithuanian fund.

The convicted organizer was ordered to pay almost 120,000 euros in damages sought by the Lithuanian fund in a civil action.

Once the court's ruling takes effect, Lithuania will inform the authorities responsible for the EU regulation of the complex cross-border fraud scheme, the prosecutors said.

The ruling can be appealed to Vilnius Regional Court within 20 days.

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