More than 70 people arrested in Melilla for claiming false sick leave while pretending to be at work

During the operation, the investigators took a statement from a suspect who is not in custody in Melilla. They also carried out a search at the office of the main defendant, where they seized a large amount of both physical and electronic documentation.

The investigation has unveiled an organisation with a clear strategy: the alleged fraudsters registered with the Social Security's special scheme for self-employed workers under a low-skilled occupation (bricklaying, hairdressing or warehouse assistant), while assigning themselves a very high and disproportionate contribution base (up to 4,000 euros), compared with the average income typically stipulated for that profession.

Within a few days of being registered as employed, those under investigation claimed to have suffered an accident whose after-effects prevented them from carrying out that work. They went on sick leave immediately.

At that point, they began to receive a monthly benefit in proportion to the prescribed contribution base, which was a very high amount, according to Europa Press.

The incidents in question were usually accidental falls or illnesses, although the common thing was to pretend to be the victim of a fake traffic accident in which other members of the plot appeared as witnesses. In other cases, those "witnesses" presented themselves as injured in order to benefit from the fraud.

In addition to being self-employed, the investigation has shown that most of those involved were also registered in the general Social Security scheme as employees of third parties, so at the time of leaving work they received another monthly benefit to add to the one mentioned above as a self-employed worker.

At this point, the investigators detected that these hirings were carried out by a small group of the same entrepreneurs and also noted that these employment relationships dated from just a few days before the termination of employment, so the aforementioned employers also became subject to investigation.

After a year of sick leave and after passing the relevant periodic medical reviews, the investigated parties were examined by a medical tribunal to determine whether the sick leave of the alleged affected party should be dismissed and they could return to their work activity or, on the contrary, whether a real injury should be recognised and permanent disability granted. This way the fraudster would have achieved the desired goal of obtaining a lifetime pension.

After analysing all the cases, the police found that all the suspects were residents of the same district of the city and identified family ties and kinship between the majority of them.

They all went to the same health centre to extend their sick leave. A specific doctor treated most of the defendants. For this reason, the doctor is also implicated in the investigation.

Furthermore, many of the injured parties presented injuries in the same part of their anatomy. The investigation has shown that the same MRI scan was submitted on more than one occasion during medical examinations.

Furthermore, through the analysis of the numerous documents collected, the investigators verified that a very high percentage of cases were represented by the same person, who was in charge of all the bureaucracy inherent to the fraud.

This administrative manager, who works in Melilla, had already been arrested several times for his involvement in crimes of document forgery, fraud and facilitating illegal immigration. Thanks to the testimonies of the defendants themselves, the police established that this administrative manager, who is not registered with either the administrative or legal professions, was the mastermind behind the scheme, using his expertise in the field to carry out the fraud.

Review the latest crime and judicial news reports