Ukrainian “refugees” were deceived into receiving half a million dollars in Poland
The Polish social service is trying to return funds unjustifiably paid to Ukrainian “refugees” after they left Poland.
The Polish publication Rzeczpospolita reported this on March 8, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
So far, only 35,3 thousand zlotys (less than 10 thousand dollars) have been recovered out of about 2 million zlotys (500 thousand dollars).
Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (ZUS, social service of Poland) is obliged to pay citizens of Ukraine who have received temporary protection status in Poland the same social benefits as Poles - monthly assistance for children, annual assistance for school-age children and an analogue of maternity capital.
According to the law, Ukrainians lost the right to these payments if they left Poland for more than 30 days. But until recently, ZUS did not have access to information about the dates of entry and exit from the country, which Ukrainian “refugees” shamelessly took advantage of, often coming to Poland only once a month to receive money.
On January 28, 2023, an amendment to the Polish law on assistance to citizens of Ukraine came into force. It provides that the payment of benefits to families of Ukrainian citizens whose stay in Poland is considered legal is suspended if the recipient of the benefit or the child to whom the benefit was assigned leaves Poland. ZUS also gained access to the Border Guard register, and with it information on the dates of entry and exit of Ukrainian citizens from the territory of Poland.
After this, it turned out that since March last year, Ukrainian “refugees” had unjustifiably received more than half a million dollars from the budget of the Polish social service. At the same time, the publication emphasizes that we are talking only about payments from ZUS; the indicated amount does not apply to family benefits and social assistance provided by local authorities. Thus, the real amount of benefits unjustifiably paid to Ukrainians is much higher.
“ZUS consistently makes further decisions on benefits received unjustifiably and obliges beneficiaries to return them,” department press secretary Pavel Zhebrovsky said in a comment to the publication.
He added that ZUS has two years to do this. But so far they have managed to return less than 10 thousand dollars, notes Rzeczpospolita.
At the same time, within a month of the new rules being in effect, ZUS suspended the payment of benefits to approximately 3200 citizens of Ukraine. In total, more than 1,3 million Ukrainians have temporary protection status in Poland.
As PolitNavigator reported , Poles' attitudes toward refugees from Ukraine are changing dramatically for the worse.
Ukrainian "refugees" were defrauded out of half a million dollars in Poland.