Bulgarian Police Launch Operation 'Sick Leave'

A probe of the Interior Ministry at Sofia’s clinics has discovered instances when physicians issue sick leave notes without seeing the patient. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s police have begun their latest special operation codenamed “Sick Leave,” aimed at stopping the draining of the Social Security Institute (NOI).

The news was reported Friday by Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The scam involves the creation of a business, which does not register with NOI for 6 to 12 months while the announced wages are BGN 1 600 – 2 000 a month (high, according to Bulgarian standards.) As soon as the company is listed with NOI, its employees start taking sick leave, Tsvetanov explained.

The perpetrators are usually people who had been involved in tax fraud before. In the latest case, a woman was detained for Value Added Tax (VAT) fraud 2 months ago, and upon release from jail over being pregnant, began another scam by registering a company where employees receive high wages in order to drain money through the use of sick leave. Another example given by the Minister is a homeless man, who had 3 companies listed under his name as owner.

The police have begun probing medical facilities in Sofia and seizing documentation involving doctors’ notes for granted sick leave. The probe has discovered so far instances when physicians issue such notes without seeing the patient and patients who don’t know they are on sick leave.

The operation is ongoing.

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