(ANSA) - Twenty members of the same Neapolitan family managed to obtain state invalidity pensions without having any of the required disabilities, according to prosecutors in the city.
The network of bogus invalids appeared to be centred on a husband and wife who not only won a secure and regular income for themselves but also for practically all their relatives.
Until investigators stepped in, monthly payments were also being picked up by the couple's three sons and their wives, two of the husband's aunts, his mother, his sister-in-law, his children's in-laws, four cousins, two of his son's sisters-in-law and the sister-in-law of his daughter.
The 20 members of the enterprising family were among 102 people investigated by prosecutors for taking 3.7 million euros from the state in unjustified benefits. Prosecutor Giovandomenico Lepore said his probe had found 82 invalidity pensions being drawn up to and including June 2005. They had mostly been obtained thanks to false doctors' certificates, forged court rulings or inaccurate reports from a provincial health committee.
The probe also focused on several people who claimed a monthly allowance in order to pay for the services of a nurse or assistant deemed necessary to help them get about. Investigators photographed many of them as they strolled through local streets completely unaided or drove their cars about town.
