New Greek finance sham: 120,000 families claiming 'ghost pensions' for relatives who died years ago

Almost 120,000 ‘ghost’ pensions are being claimed by Greek families who continue to pocket the money even though their relatives have been dead for years.



The wide-spread scam has cost the Greek government hundreds of millions of euros, a damning report on the country’s pension funds found.



And the bungling authorities claimed they had no computers that could check the ages of people receiving the money – even though many would have been well over 120.



Clash: Despite ongoing protests over fiscal austerity in Greece, it has emerged than many people are claiming illegal pension payments

In some cases, the family members continued to claim regular payouts from the Greek government more than 30 years after the pensioners themselves had died.



The embarrassment comes as EU bosses prepare to pump billions of euros into the country, using funds generously bolstered by the British taxpayer.

Britain has already contributed around £1billion to Greece in loan guarantees through the International Monetary Fund, and is likely to face another bill of £1billion for any share of further support.

But yesterday’s report shows funds are being sapped by the scam, with the pension money being cashed in by the families.



When the scandal first came to light in June, the authorities played down its scale, saying only a few thousand cases existed.



But they ordered a full investigation by the state pension funds – who demanded that every person claiming a pension contact them to say they were still alive.



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Now up to 120,000 cases have been uncovered by the report, which throws into doubt the country’s ability to keep a grip on its own finances.



The main state pension fund IKA tracked down almost 110,000 cases of fake claims, and a further 8,000 fraudsters were also uncovered by a smaller fund dealing with farmers’ pensions.



The authorities claimed they did not have the right computer systems to check ages of pension claimers.



If they had, they would have found a country inhabited by residents of record-breaking longevity.



In one case, investigators discovered a man who was collecting his pension at the ripe old age of 130.



It was only when they checked that it was revealed he had died more than 30 years ago, leaving police to search for the relatives.



Another example showed a claimant who was allegedly 125 years old – because his family had forgotten to report his death.



The regular payments of more than £1,000 a month had been flowing freely into their bank account for more than a quarter of a century before it was discovered.



When asked to repay the money, investigators were shocked when the family retorted: ‘Sorry but all the money is spent and now we’re broke.’



The anecdotes demonstrate the scale of the challenge now facing authorities determined to claw back the lost money.



One proposal includes stopping payment to anyone who did not manage to contact the authorities during the investigation.



But the measure will not bring back the millions of pounds’ worth lost over decades of unnecessary payments.



A bailout fund of £100billion – around €110billion – was agreed last year by European leaders in an effort keep the country solvent.



Athens will run out of money and default on its debts if the next payment – worth £7billon – fails to arrive later this month.

