Prisoners among those fraudulently getting tourism stipends

Members of the public and relatives have reported to the labour ministry that several people, including prisoners and individuals with full-time jobs, are fraudulently receiving the government’s monthly tourism stipend, Deputy Premier Chris Saunders confirmed Monday.

The suspected fraud cases were discovered after the Ministry of Border Control and Labour inadvertently released an email earlier this month that revealed the email addresses, many of which contained full names, of the 3,329 people receiving the stipends.

Four prisoners, including one who has been getting the stipend for two years, have been listed as recipients, government said in a statement.

Police are now investigating the fraud reports.

Saunders, who is also the minister for border control and labour, said in a press release, “While I was very unhappy with the clerical error that led to the inadvertent data breach, since then we have had several reports of allegations of fraud made against recipients of the stipend which is a matter of serious concern. My team has been working hard to identify cases of suspected fraud which have now been referred to the RCIPS, Financial Crimes Investigation Unit for full investigation, with the intention of prosecution.”

In January, the labour ministry took over responsibility for the disbursement of the stipend payments from the Ministry of Tourism and launched a survey in which recipients were asked to self-report their employment status, with the aim to remove those who had found full-time employment from the stipend programme.

Saunders pointed out that more than 600 people had stated they had obtained full-time employment since the start of the year, and so were placed on a reduced payment schedule that would cease after three months.

However, most recipients – some 2,400 individuals – remain on the list at full payment of $1,500 a month.

“While I am sure that the vast number of recipients truly require assistance, unfortunately, there are members of our society that are hellbent on getting money for doing nothing,” Saunders said.

“That mindset is un-Caymanian. The fact that some of the people who reported suspected fraud offences are family members, confirms that we still live in a society where people value decency and honesty. Individuals that seek to defraud the Government are essentially stealing public funds which could be put to better use assisting those who are truly vulnerable and in need of help,” he added.

The stipend had been costing government up to $5.5 million a month, after it was implemented in 2020 in response to thousands of tourism workers losing their jobs when Cayman closed its borders in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19 locally.

Payments to prisoners

Saunders said his ministry had also discovered that four men incarcerated at Northward Prison were being paid the stipend.

At least one of those was already in prison when the stipend was instituted in April 2020. At the time, and for several months after, the payments were $1,000 a month, but were later upped to $1,500 a month.

Saunders said one of the four inmates has since been released, but the other three are currently in prison and were receiving monthly payments up to March this year.

Describing the fraud allegations as “widespread and disturbing”, the deputy premier stated, “I know that the tourism stipend began as an emergency measure and I supported the previous Government’s decision to provide much needed assistance to thousands of families that were financially impacted by the global pandemic overnight. This was the right thing to do then, it is the right thing to do now, and we shouldn’t let those who seek to exploit the scheme for financial gain detract from the goodness of this programme, as a lot of our people still require assistance.

“Many of our people did the right thing by reporting cases of suspected fraud, and their courage and decency now requires us to act. We cannot afford to sweep this under the rug.”

He called on anyone receiving the funds, who do not meet the criteria for legitimate claims, to voluntarily remove themselves from the recipient list.

Funding for the stipends has been approved up until June this year.

The ministry has launched another survey, which it said is mandatory to be completed by all recipients of the stipend, and a link has been emailed to recipients. This survey will be available from 25 April until 6 May, and is required in order for May payments to be processed.

The ministry also released contact details that can be used to report suspicions of fraud relating to stipend payments – [email protected] or 649-6932.