Elderly People Left Without Flats: Social Assistance Department of Balti Was Searched

The head of the social assistance department in Balti has been detained for 72 hours on suspicion of having fraudulently taken flats from two lonely pensioners in collusion with other officials. The National Anticorruption Centre (NAC) and the Prosecutor’s Office have exposed a corruption scheme whose victims were socially vulnerable persons on file of the Main Department of Social Assistance and Family Protection of the Balti Mayor’s Office. At least two elderly people were left homeless after they signed documents transferring the flats in favor of some officials from the social assistance department. According to the investigation, in 2022, the responsible persons of the Social Assistance Department of Balti, using their official position and taking advantage of the helpless state of the elderly, notarized a power of attorney, which gave them the right to dispose of the pensioner’s property. They fraudulently imputed themselves the entire property. In another episode, an elderly person was tricked into signing a power of attorney for lifetime maintenance in exchange for providing employees with all of his real property. The NAC and the Prosecutor’s Office are investigating another separate episode of corruption related to the transfer of 5000 euros as a bribe by an employee of the Balti Social Assistance Department to responsible persons from the management in exchange for not disclosing his illegal actions. As a result of the searches, the head of the Main Department of Social Assistance and Family Protection in Balti was detained for 72 hours. Evidence in the case was seized, including documents alienating the property of the elderly under the condition of lifetime maintenance, sale and purchase contracts, powers of attorney and electronic media. The prosecutor’s office of Balti initiated a criminal case on the fact of abuse of office. The investigation is ongoing.