Published 21 October 2021 at 17.14
Domestic. An entire Arab extended family in Märsta was employed as “personal assistants” for the father in the family, who was allegedly unable to move himself. At the same time, the father traveled regularly to Jordan – where he ran a restaurant – without any help from assistants. The family is now being prosecuted for having defrauded taxpayers of SEK 18 million since 2011.
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Assistance Fraudsters
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The now 68-year-old man was granted assistance compensation for the first time for his alleged polio as early as 2001, but the first ten years have become statute-barred.
Two sons in the family started assistance companies and employed three more brothers, two sisters and even the mother as “personal assistants” for the father.
During the period from 2011 to 2020, which the prosecution covers, the man has had an estimated need for assistance of up to more than 20 hours per day. He has stated that he needs help with basically everything, and that he could not even lift his arms.
The need for help is described in a medical certificate as almost total. Among other things, he was also alleged to suffer from “abundant sweating” which requires him to shower 3-7 times a day.
According to the indictment, the fraud has led to incorrectly paid amounts of approximately SEK 18 million in assistance compensation.
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The police's fraud section, the group for welfare crimes, at the regional investigation unit in the Stockholm region has been working on the case for the past year and the work has meant, among other things, that the police have searched outside the man's temporary residence in northern Stockholm County. The work has led to material that shows that the man's level of function is significantly higher than what the certificates describe. This has also been proven by photos and videos in seized mobile phones.
Witness data and photographs show that the man, even though he was in a wheelchair, did not in fact have any problems moving his arms.
“During the house search, police personnel observe how [the man] sets himself up on his own. in bed and scratches his head “, it says in the police report.
It also emerged that the man regularly traveled abroad without assistants. Investigators were able to prove through account statements and flight information that he had been in Jordan for longer periods, and that assistance had also been reported for these periods, even though account statements and location information from the bank ID for the assistants showed that they were in Sweden.
During a house search of the man's home, a black briefcase was found in which the man's secret Jordanian passport was kept. With the help of passport stamps, a large number of stays in the Arab country could be confirmed, from 2015 to 2019. These were often repeated trips during the same year as well as stays lasting several months.
The portfolio also included the man's Jordanian driving license, account information for two bank accounts in Jordan, SEK 250,000 in five hundred notes, 2,400 Jordanian dinars, and a legal document regulating the cancellation of a restaurant sale in Jordan – where the man is registered as a seller.
< In February 2017, the man bought a Volvo V70. In February 2018, the family reported the car as stolen in Märsta. In May of the same year, photos were taken in Jordan where the man posed in the same black Volvo.
It has also been possible to detect irregularities in the assistance reported from family members. At the same time as they have stated that they performed assistant tasks, worked in other places or engaged in other documented activities.
A total of eight people are charged in the extensive assistance fraud. The indictment includes a serious benefit violation, aiding and abetting a serious benefit crime, a serious fraud and a serious money laundering crime.
The main accused family members have all been granted Swedish passports and can therefore not be deported under current legislation.