Charges pressed against 6 of the detained in work capability assesments scheme

The Specialised Prosecutor's Office on 20thv of February demanded remands for six of the detained in the scheme for issuing work capability assesments with false content in Varna.

They are accused of participating in an organised crime group for the purpose of issuing official documents with false diagnosis, for which they took bribes. Five of the accused are doctors from Work Capability Assessment Commissions and have issued untrue diagnosis to healthy people to give them decisions on the percentage of incapacity.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the detainees have been involved in this activity since 2008 - by manipulating medical tests they have proven that healthy people suffer from illnesses that lead to incapability to work, more than 50%, so that these people can receive pensions for disabilities as well.

The six-member organised crime group was detained within the framework of a specialised operation on 17 and 18 February. Five of the participants are doctors, among them the chair of one of the Work Capability Assessment Commission, the sixth is the brother of one of the doctors – Syrian nationals who have Bulgarian families and citizenships. The surveillance on the group began in May last year.

Over a periodof four months, more than 200 people have been found to have illegally acquired decisions by Work Capability Assessment Commissions. According to the collected data, the two brothers played the role of mediators. They motivated fully healthy people to apply and get disbility pensions for and other benefits. The bribe they asked for was 1500-2000 BGN per person.

After a preliminary agreement and a specific password they refered the people to the doctors from the criminal group. If the client did not have sufficient length of service and therefore was not entitled to a pension, then the disability percentage in the diagnoses had to be very high.

In the course of the investigations, BGN 20,000 were found in two doctors and BGN 1,480,000 and over BGN 200,000 in two bank cassettes. Some 31 witnesses were interviewed during the investigation.