The Prosecutor General’s Office checks the FIU due to massive denials of payments for children from 8 to 17 years old

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia began checking the activities of the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR) due to violations in the regional offices of the fund when assigning payments to families with children from 8 to 17 years old, says in a notice from the supervisory authority.

The reason for the check was confirmed cases of unlawful denials of benefits in the Krasnodar branch of the PFR. Prosecutors found that the regional branch of the fund made a technical error when considering applications, the ministry said in a statement.

Families, reasonably counting on state support, applied to the PFR office in the Krasnodar Territory in May of this year, the Prosecutor General’s Office points out: they were denied payments, citing the fact that their income exceeded the regional subsistence level per capita. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the amounts of social pensions received by families were taken into account twice, and the calculations made automatically were incorrect.

“On the facts of the committed violations of the law, the prosecutor’s office of the Krasnodar Territory submitted a submission to the regional branch of the fund. In pursuance of the requirements specified in it, earlier decisions have been revised, payments to families have been assigned, ”the Prosecutor General’s Office notes. In total, the department found 1,048 illegal cases of denial of payments, and three officials of the territorial branch of the PFR were brought to disciplinary responsibility.

The audit of the FIU is organized taking into account the “widespread nature of such violations” and concerns the implementation of legislation when concluding and executing government contracts for the creation and development of electronic information systems, the supervisory agency said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced new payments to families with children who have a small income on March 8, 2022. The decree was signed at the end of the same month, and the first accruals began on May 1. To receive benefits, the criteria of need are applied: income is taken into account (they must be less than the subsistence level in the region per family member per month) and property (real estate, vehicles, deposits).

Formerly Vedomosti wrotethat more than half of the families who applied were denied benefits for children aged 8 to 17. By June 1, decisions were made on 4.5 million applications for benefits, of which 1.9 million were approved, and 2.6 million (57.5%) received refusals. The main reason for refusal was the excess of the minimum income (43% of cases).

But on July 25, in response to a request, a representative of the FIU denied the information that this may be due to technical problems: “Information that in May [когда начались выплаты] there was a failure in the FIU system that affected the decisions on payments, does not correspond to reality.” The representative of the Ministry of Labor also claimed that “there was no failure in the information systems of the PFR”: “The information systems of the PFR worked properly both in the period from May 1 to May 10, and in all subsequent periods.”

On August 8, Vedomosti re-sent a request to the FIU and the Ministry of Labor. No responses have been received at the time of publication.

July 31, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin freed the head of the FIU Andrei Kigim from his position, the reasons for the resignation were not officially named. Sergei Chirkov, who previously held the post of Deputy Chairman of the Board of the PFR, has been appointed acting head of the PFR.