Greece's Island of the Blind

[Burnum]

Greece needs to crack down on benefit fraud, but on Zakynthos, the island of the blind, the crackdown has backfired for one politician

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Even by the extravagant standards of Greek corruption, the scam uncovered by Stelios Bozikis is so brazen that it is hard to credit.
Nearly 600 people on the Ionian island of Zakynthos - of which Mr Bozikis was recently elected mayor - managed to have themselves falsely declared blind, entitling them to fat monthly cheques from the state.
They included taxi drivers, shopkeepers and restaurant owners, farmers tending the island's patchwork of vineyards and olive groves, and a few amateur hunters, whose purported disability did not stop them from spending their weekends shooting rabbits and birds in the rugged mountains of the interior.
Other "blind" locals have been seen cheerfully playing cards and backgammon in the tavernas and bars of the island. "Out of 650 registered blind people on the island, we estimate that at least 600 are fraudulent claims," the mayor told The Sunday Telegraph in his office overlooking the boats crowding the port of Zakynthos Town, the main settlement.
That represents nearly two per cent of the island's population of 35,000 - nearly 10 times the average rate of blindness in the rest of Europe, according to the World Health Organisation.

The surprisingly high prevalence was the result of authorities on the island permitting fraudulent claims for more than a decade.
"I realised when I became mayor that a lot of illegal things were taking place here," said Mr Bozikis, a lawyer who was elected last year. "I promised myself that I would tackle them, irrespective of the political cost."
The fake blind were raking in monthly payments of at least €350, sometimes more depending on their age and family status. Those who supposedly needed carers received larger sums.
The mayor, a member of the Socialist Pasok party, has suspended all benefit payments until it can be independently established exactly who needs a white cane.
The crackdown has encountered huge opposition, culminating in a recent council meeting which was stormed by around 50 angry benefit claimants, who chucked eggs and pots of yoghurt at the mayor in a uniquely Greek expression of anger.

Greece's problem with Graft and corruption seems to be more in line with what is expected with a Third-world nation, rather then a member of EU.

"Greece was ranked 80th out of 183 countries in Transparency International's 2011 corruption perceptions index, below countries like Cuba, Tunisia, China and Saudi Arabia"

[removeduser_487563287433]

How is it after four years after the credit crunch Greece is still failing to deal with basics like this? Such a waste of Northern European money.

[Hobbes]

How is it after four years after the credit crunch Greece is still failing to deal with basics like this? Such a waste of Northern European money.

You honestly think that European money are given in order to improve things like these?

[removeduser_487563287433]

You honestly think that European money are given in order to improve things like these?

The money is to keep the state solvent. That includes their social security bill, so yeah, why do you think otherwise?

[Manuel I Komnenos]

Is this news? Corruption is rife in Greece. And it should be purged.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Is this news? Corruption is rife in Greece. And it should be purged.

Might be purged sooner if we give you less money methinks.

[Babur]

Might be purged sooner if we give you less money methinks.

Greece's suicide rates have already increased due to the debt crisis there:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...83R08N20120428

[alhoon]

About those "blind" what they do is despicable because they take the money from people that really need them.

[Manuel I Komnenos]

Might be purged sooner if we give you less money methinks.

Radical changes are needed. If Greece doesn't default, this system will survive.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Radical changes are needed. If Greece doesn't default, this system will survive.

You think that economic collapse is now the only way for Greeks to obey the law?

[Manuel I Komnenos]

You think that economic collapse is now the only way for Greeks to obey the law?

It's not down to 'Greeks'. A Greek citizen can't get a disability pension if some political figure does not hand it to him. The system which promoted corruption in order to gather votes should be purged and the only way this can be achieved is to bring chaos and make way for a new system to arise. What's happening right now only gives time to the same political figures that brought Greece in this state. When 'troika' leaves, they'll start handing disability pensions once again.

[Kanaric]

Radical changes are needed. If Greece doesn't default, this system will survive.

I like how people were raging when I was saying things like this but now its acceptable, lmao. Now that you got the money you changed your mind?

[Dr. Croccer]

Why are we giving them money again?

[fkizz]

Why are we giving them money again?

Funny thing is even the greeks themselves don't want more money (more bailouts and austerity).

The president who made a referendum so greeks could vote if they wanted more money or not quickly got "spirited away".

The answer is because greece is being used a martyr/example of punishment by EU and eurozone to keep the other countries in line. so devilish and simple it hurts.

By martyr is that they are insisting on a currency that greece is not compatible with, for the sake of the survival of the system. EU and Eurozone seem to be willing to sacrifice as many greeks as it takes.

[removeduser_487563287433]

You mean there's no money in Paleoecology? Shocking!

[Thorn777]

You mean there's no money in Paleoecology? Shocking!

Thx to the Bologna Plan that reality is ever more increasing. Education is more and more adapting to business demands like the US model. Kant & Co roll in their graves.

[alhoon]

I mean that a brilliant scientist was brought to so desperate position financially that he made a suicide and that another brilliant scientist, one of the best Geologists I've ever met, that is making great headway on how we estimate the age of faults to learn more about the Core and how it moves... is about to get out of the country, again. But that's not the right topic about that. This is about corrupted politicians and cheaters.

I've edited my post above.

[Hobbes]

Social security? With those measures and the way governments handle the money? Nope, almost none of that here.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Social security? With those measures and the way governments handle the money? Nope, almost none of that here.

Except 600 benefit fraudsters on Zakynthos, of course?

I mean that a brilliant scientist was brought to so desperate position financially that he made a suicide and that another brilliant scientist, one of the best Geologists I've ever met, that is making great headway on how we estimate the age of faults to learn more about the Core and how it moves... is about to get out of the country, again. But that's not the right topic about that. This is about corrupted politicians and cheaters.

I've edited my post above.

Tragic, but the world doesn't owe anybody a living, and money spent on grossly unprofitable academia (which isn't the same as education, by the way) is money that isn't available.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I know. Hold a lottery in Germany in which 600 lucky citizens get to go to the island, and each gets to help one of the false applicants 'earn' their disability payments.