INPS searched in fake job probe (2)

(ANSA) - Salerno, October 23 - Carabinieri police searched the offices of pensions and social security agency INPS in Rome and in Italy's regional capitals to seize documents in relation to a probe into alleged fake labour contracts, ANSA sources said on Friday.
    The probe is part of a larger investigation that has already put 44 entrepreneurs and professionals in pre-charge detention and brought seizures of more than 137 million euros' worth of assets connected to non-existent companies that were allegedly set up with thousands of falsified employee records in order to accrue INPS benefits such as unemployment, maternity and sick leave.
    Prosecutor Giovanni Izzo of Nocera Inferiore in the province of Salerno said Friday's investigative operations have "ascertained certain incongruencies in the internal auditing system of INPS".
    Izzo said these incongruencies included "inserting into the database false data regarding completed inspections and regarding the number of jobs annulled, upon which were based the checks regarding whether annual goals pre-assigned by the Directorate-General were reached", as well as "unwarranted disbursement of incentive bonuses linked to productivity goals to INPS managers and workers".
    Izzo said that for just the period 2012-2013 the comprehensive financial estimate related to this activity is around 361 million euros.