In more than four years, the man is said to have received 340,000 kroner without stating where he actually was.
On 11 August, the 69-year-old man must appear in Fredrikstad courthouse accused of social security fraud in the period 9 October 2012 to 31 January 2017.
According to the police, the man has sent an electronic report card to Nav for payment of work clearance money.
The problem for the man is that according to the police he has stayed in Thailand during the mentioned period. Work clearance money paid by the Norwegian state can only be retained if you move to an EU / EEA country, or Switzerland (Iceland is included in a separate convention for Nordic countries).
– Failed to disclose stay in Thailand
“If you are moving to a country outside the EEA, you can not apply to keep work clearance money”, writes Nav on its own websites. It also states that a condition for receiving work clearance allowance is that it is possible to implement work-oriented measures and / or treatment in the country you are moving to.
The police also believe that the social security fraud for the 69-year-old is gross because the amount of 340,000 kroner would have caused Nav significant financial damage.
«(…) in Thailand, he sent electronic report cards to Nav, where he failed to state that he was staying in Thailand. The information on the report cards formed the basis for automatic calculation and wrongful payment of work clearance money totaling NOK 340,273, which resulted in a loss or risk of loss for Nav », it is stated in the indictment.
The man is also charged with perjury.
Lawyer Vigdis Brandstorp is defending the man.
– I have not succeeded in getting in touch with my client and therefore do not want to comment on the case, she says to Nettavisen.
Scammers for tens of millions
The maximum penalty for aggravated fraud is six years’ imprisonment, but it is most likely that there will be months of imprisonment in this case if the man were to be convicted.
Police attorney in the East, Margrethe Hee Dahlen Røijen, is currently on holiday. It has not been possible to get a comment from her or public prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravås. It is the latter who has ordered the indictment.
Social security abuse costs society millions of kroner every year in pure fraud alone. In 2020, a total of 355 people were reported for fraud totaling NOK 84 million, according to Nav. The number dropped drastically from 2019 when there were 881 reported for a total of 139 million kroner.
The average reported amount in 2020 was NOK 246,000. 30 of the cases were fraud of more than NOK 500,000.
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