A total of 74 people, including doctors, administrative employees of the Disability Certification Centers and private individuals, are facing trial in Thessaloniki over fraudulent disability certifications.
The case was brought before the Three-Member Misdemeanor Court of Thessaloniki, but the hearing was postponed and is expected to take place in January.
According to the indictment, those involved increased patients’ disability ratings illegally so they could qualify for disability pensions or benefits. Money was paid in exchange for the higher ratings, with the amount reaching as much as €2,000 per case.
Investigation uncovered alleged scheme
The case came to light in December 2021 following an investigation by the Internal Affairs Division of Northern Greece.
Authorities had been monitoring the people involved from May through December of that year. According to investigators, those accused also used code words when discussing cases in which a patient’s disability rating was allegedly going to be increased.
The current trial concerns misdemeanor offenses.
A separate trial involving the felony charges has been scheduled for later this month before the Three-Member Court of Appeals for Felonies in Thessaloniki.
Doctors deny allegations
The doctors accused in the case deny the charges.
They argue that, in subsequent committees where the same patients were reassessed, the patients were in several cases assigned even higher disability ratings than those at issue in the original proceedings.
