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| Europe |
| The Island of the blind tries to crack down on fraud |
| 2012-04-29 |
| Even by the extravagant standards of Greek corruption, the scam uncovered by Stelios Bozikis is so brazen that it is hard to credit. Nearly 600 people on the Ionian island of Zakynthos - of which Mr Bozikis was recently elected mayor - managed to have themselves falsely declared blind, entitling them to fat monthly cheques from the state. They included taxi drivers, shopkeepers and restaurant owners, farmers tending the island's patchwork of vineyards and olive groves, and a few amateur hunters, whose purported disability did not stop them from spending their weekends shooting rabbits and birds in the rugged mountains of the interior. Other "blind" locals have been seen cheerfully playing cards and backgammon in the tavernas and bars of the island. "Out of 650 registered blind people on the island, we estimate that at least 600 are fraudulent claims," the mayor told The Sunday Telegraph in his office overlooking the boats crowding the port of Zakynthos Town, the main settlement. That represents nearly two per cent of the island's population of 35,000 - nearly 10 times the average rate of blindness in the rest of Europe, according to the World Health Organisation. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 Blind hunting sounds like fun too. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2012-04-29 18:56 |
| #4 I always rely on a blind taxi driver to get me where I want to go. |
| Posted by: manversgwtw 2012-04-29 18:54 |
| #3 Point taken, abu. But collecting benefits on the grounds of blindness strikes me as fraud, if they are still able to earn a living. |
| Posted by: RandomJD 2012-04-29 18:41 |
| #2 just FYI there are multiple definitions of blind and it is not just the 'guy with the white cane' that we often think of. in the US there are two different 'legally blind' definitions. 1) vision that will not correct to better than 20/400 2) a narrowing of the field of vision to 10 degrees. I am legally blind (group 2) but for years had very good visual acuity in the area where i could see. recently i have acquired via aging the need for corrective lenses in order to read books (arm too short disease) and am able to perform most any task that a 'fully sighted' person could. of course, if there is a wet floor sign out, odds are that i will never know it till i kick the darn thing and until i completely miss noticing an obstacle and walk into it you would never know anything was amiss if you were to spend time around me. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2012-04-29 16:31 |
| #1 We've got the same here. Millions of able-bodied parasites are now getting "disability" from Social Security. |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2012-04-29 11:48 |