For the purpose of exercising the right to report, constitutionally guaranteed, and in compliance with the rights of the suspects (who, in consideration of the current phase of preliminary investigations, are to be presumed innocent until the irrevocable sentence which ascertains their guilt), it is announced that the Yellow Flames of the Provincial Headquarters of Treviso, in collaboration with the INPS and with the Special Unit for Public Expenditure and Community Fraud Repression of the Corps, have ascertained the wrongful perception by 70 people of sums for around 440 thousand euros, due to the absence of the conditions legitimizing the use of the "Citizenship Income" (RdC).
This form of economic assistance, introduced with the Law Decree n. 4 of 2019, represents an instrument of active labor policy, to combat poverty, inequality and social exclusion, being reserved for that segment of the population who is in poor income conditions or who is unemployed due to a recent loss of work.
The economic support, recognized in favor of families in possession of particular citizenship, residence, residence, income and property requirements, is obtained by submitting a specific application to INPS, electronically or at authorized centers (CAF), which presupposes a Single Substitute Declaration (DSU) by the interested party on the property and income position of the entire family.
In this context, the Fiamme Gialle of Treviso, in order to ensure that the public resources made available for the aforementioned purposes are paid to those who really need them, have concentrated their control activity on the truthfulness of the data contained in the self-declarations of those who have requested and obtained the RdC in the provincial territory.
To this end, a specific analysis path was devised, which made it possible to cross-reference the results contained in the various databases (including the "Cliclavoro Veneto" portal, made available by the Veneto Region and Veneto Lavoro thanks to a memorandum of understanding, signed with the Regional Command of the Guardia di Finanza in 2019) to develop the information acquired in the context of territorial control and, finally, to verify the information emerging from the analysis of family statuses, which indicates the real composition of the family unit.
The checks made it possible to detect 70 irregular positions, located throughout the province, with the consequent undue receipt of the citizen's income, since the beneficiaries did not meet the requirements established by current legislation.
Various, and in some singular cases, the violations ascertained.
For many foreign citizens, the cause of the illegitimate use of the benefit is due to the lack of the residence requirement, taking into account that the law provides that the applicant for the subsidy must have been resident in Italy for at least 10 years and that he has been continuously in the last two years.
In other cases, then the in-depth studies carried out made it possible to detect that the beneficiaries, by failing to indicate in the Single Substitute Declaration (DSU) the income related to the winnings achieved from online gaming, have provided untruthful information with reference to their income position. Or again, the same winnings were achieved in the period in which the RdC was already being received, but were not communicated to INPS, because this would have caused the right to the benefit to be lost.
Some beneficiaries of the RdC, in fact, were found to be holders of online gaming accounts, used assiduously to place bets on sporting events, as well as to take part in poker tournaments or other table games. In some cases, sums of money for hundreds of thousands of euros have been credited to these gaming accounts, clearly incompatible with a state of economic poverty.
Significant, in this context, is the case of a sixty-year-old from Sarmede who, by failing to declare financial resources deriving from gambling winnings of over 255.000 euros, unduly received sums of 18.500 euros.
There are still cases in which the irregularity concerned the omission, in the single substitutive declaration, of relevant income information - such as income received, also for employment, and real estate availability - which, if correctly indicated, would have placed the applicants outside the limits established for admission to the institute in question.
Among the many, the positions of a fifty-year-old woman from Conegliano emerge, who failed to declare financial resources held in an Eastern European country for over 310.000 euros, and of two foreign women residing in the castellana, who had not declared the income received for their activity as caregivers, thus resulting unemployed and obtaining the economic benefits of the RdC.
There are still several cases of failure to notify INPS, after the declaration, of the change in the conditions that gave the right to the RdC, such as having started a job or having changed the composition of one's family unit.
All the irregularities ascertained were reported to the INPS for the initiation of the procedures for revoking the benefit and returning the sums unduly received, amounting to approximately 440 thousand euros, while those responsible were reported to the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Treviso, given that the undue receipt of the benefit is punished with imprisonment from two to six years, in cases of presentation of declarations certifying things that are not true, and with imprisonment from one to three years, in cases of failure to communicate changes in the income or assets, subsequent to the presentation of the declaration.
The intervention follows a similar one, concluded in October 2021, which had led to the complaint of 116 people and the recovery of sums unduly received for over 700 thousand euros. Therefore, the number of people reported in the Marca rises to 186, who have unduly received over 1,1 million euros.
The completed operation testifies, once again, to the constant commitment of the Guardia di Finanza of Treviso in the public expenditure sector, with the aim of guaranteeing effective support for the weakest sections of the population, avoiding the expenditure of resources for the benefit of non-entitled subjects: undue access to welfare services and income support measures in fact generates inequity and undermines social cohesion.
The dissemination of this press release has been authorized by the Public Prosecutor of Treviso (art. 5, paragraph 1, Legislative Decree no. 106/2006, as introduced by article 3 of Legislative Decree no. 188/2021).
