Health voucher scams: over 170 people charged in less than two years

Between 2018 and March 2020 the judiciary authorities have charged over 170 people for crimes related to the misuse of the government health vouchers, the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) informed.
According to the statement, the charges were the result of 117 criminal cases, where most of those targeted were people directly involved in private clinics as well as staff members.
The MP also revealed that in many of the cases, those committing fraud or illegally using health vouchers were also accountable for crimes of fraud, document forgery, and the unauthorized use of identification documents from a third person.
The courts have already convicted over 90 of those people and have punished them with the corresponding penalties, the MP revealed.
Regarding the recently reported case of a scam involving a sum of over 9 million patacas, the MP said that while searching for other responsible parties, they have already detained the four main defendants, including a doctor at a clinic, the owner of a Chinese medicine pharmacy and the manager of a ginseng and dried seafood store. They are suspected of colluding and taking advantage of their positions to convert health vouchers into cash, trading them with other people.
The four defendants were indicted for crimes of fraud of considerably high value, use of someone else’s identification documents, and computer-related fraud.
Under the law, the crime of fraud of considerably high value is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years. The crimes of using someone else’s identification documents and computer-related fraud are punishable with imprisonment up of to 3 years or an equivalent fine.