EX-COUNCILLOR FAKES SICK PENSION

An ex-United Left (IU) councillor from Alicante, Óscar Morales, has pretended to suffer from cancer for the last five years so that he could claim a state sick pension

Morales is alleged to have forged medical reports from three hospitals in 2008 and, until he was caught just under two years ago, he has been claiming approximately 1,000 per month incapacity benefit. The amount claim is said to be in the region of 70,000 euros which, when eventually caught, he immediately refunded together with an appropriate amount of interest.

One-time councillor for Youth and Cooperation at Elche city council between 1995 and 1999, he was also chairman of the Elche Football Club Foundation.

He issaid to have forged a report from the Vall d’Hebrón hospital in Barcelona diagnosing him with colon cancer, and another from the hospital San Juan de Alicante detailing his chemotherapy treatment, as well as a third from Elche General Hospital for radiotherapy.

He also managed to fake the official stamps, including one from the College of Medicine, as well as the signatures of real doctors at all three centres, describing in the reports, in detail, how the cancer had spread. The scam was said to be so convincing that his doctor prescribed opiates to help him with the side-effects of the treatment.

But when called in for his annual medical check-up, a requirement of the Social Security System for those who are claiming a sick pension, his doctor became suspicious when the medical reports he supplied did not seem to bear any relation to his apparent state of health. An investigation ensued and it transpired that the reports were fake.

Morales is now facing two criminal charges, one of Social Security fraud and another of falsifying documentation.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/45330/

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