Skopje, 15 April 2024 (MIA) - Minister of Labor and Social Policy Gjkovo Velkovski said at a press conference Monday that in the period between June 2022 and March 2024, funds were illegally paid out to over 1000 citizens, under the pretext of welfare. This, he said, has caused damages of over EUR 2.5 million to the Ministry’s budget. 

The Minister stressed that they’ve responded by adopting 1.134 decisions cutting guaranteed minimum assistance and social security and forbidding the affected parties from making use of it in the next 12 months.

Velkovski underlined that the citizens have a right to seek regular legal remedy at the second instance courts, after which the social work centers would draft agreements for the reimbursement of funds received without any basis.

“They used the covid crisis, when the conditions for making use of social rights were relaxed in terms of possessing a registered motor vehicle, and the system included all vehicles older than five years. Although, the covid crisis officially ended on 30.06.2022, no actions were taken to reexamine the cases of beneficiaries who owned registered motor vehicles and they remained in the social protection system, using the rights without any basis,” Velkovski said.

According to Velkovski, the 2019 Law on Social Protection and the bylaws state that if the beneficiaries possess a registered motor vehicle they don’t have a right to guaranteed minimum assistance.

“Here the question of what the Ministry’s managing structures were doing the past 18 months is raised,” added Velkovski. 

Photo: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy