The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway (Økokrim) will prioritize Corona related fraud together with the Norwegian Tax Administration and NAV. The Tax Administration has now halted payments of 1.3 billion NOK.
Since March the government has given approximately 5.4 billion NOK to companies that have been affected by the Corona pandemic. The agencies responsible for the compensation packages, the Tax Administration and NAV have together with Økokrim attempted to prevent the abuse of the schemes, writes Aftenposten.
A total of 17.000 applications have been stopped by the Tax Administrations’ automatic control systems. This represents 1.3 billion NOK. Moreover, they have sent out 3.700 repayment orders totaling 189 million NOK.
Nav, which pays salary compensation, has reported 12 matters for a total of NOK 20 million. The methods used are to enter incorrect information, such as fictitious income and identity.
Økokrim chief Pål Lønseth can relate that fraud cases tied to the Corona compensations have a high priority.
“We look into lower valued fraud cases tied to the Corona pandemic because we wish to make a statement that such fraud represents a high risk of being caught” he says.
Lønseth boasts about the collaboration between the agencies. The Tax Agency has about 400 employees working with the compensation scheme for businesses. NAV’s control systems represent about 100 employees.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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