The Provincial Court of Guadalajara has sentenced a woman to return 78,643 euros for continuing to collect the retirement pension of a man who died in 2015 for almost six years. The accused hid and did not report the death to both the National Social Security Institute (INSS) and the banking entity, in this case BBVA, and used the funds deposited monthly into the account in which she appeared as authorized. The collection of the pension was maintained until 2021, when Social Security realized and finally ordered the suspension.
Apparently, the woman did not report the death of the pension holder, which occurred in August 2015 in Ecuador, to either Social Security or BBVA, which allowed the retirement benefit to continue to be deposited into the bank account for which she was authorized. Instead of reporting the death, he continued to use the account normally, making cash withdrawals from ATMs, card payments and periodic transfers.
This situation continued for almost six years, since at no time did the bank request a certificate of life or other document to verify the survival of the holder, nor did Social Security detect any irregularity in the payments. According to the ruling, the obligation to verify annually that the beneficiary was still alive also corresponded to the bank, which did not activate any control.
It was not until 2021 when Social Security detected that the pension holder had died years ago, so it proceeded to suspend payments. After uncovering the irregularity and verifying that the woman had used the funds for years, the court imposed compensation of 78,643.72 euros as civil liability, in addition to a prison sentence and fine for a crime against Social Security.
Forced to return 78,643.72 euros plus fine
The Provincial Court of Guadalajara, after reviewing the facts and verifying that the accused had for years disposed of the money deposited in the account of a deceased pensioner, sentenced her to return 78,643.72 euros to the General Treasury of Social Security as compensation, in addition to imposing a fine for the same amount. He was also sentenced to two years in prison and was prohibited from requesting public aid, benefits or subsidies for a period of four years, as regulated in article 13.2 of the General Subsidies Law.
In addition, the ruling declared the subsidiary civil liability of the BBVA bank for not having verified the survival of the pension holder. According to the court, the financial entity, in its role as a collaborator in the payment of public benefits, had the legal obligation to inform the INSS annually if the beneficiaries were still alive. The bank’s lack of control allowed the fraud to go on for almost six years without being detected. That is, if the convicted person does not pay the 78,643.72 euros, BBVA must do so.