In Italy, a state employee received a salary for 15 years without appearing at work

Italian police accuse an employee of a municipal hospital in Calabria of fraud, who did not go to work for 15 years. At the same time, the 67 — year-old man received a salary every month-the total amount of payments since 2005 has reached about half a million euros.

According to Italian press reports, an employee of the Pugilese Chiaccio Hospital in Catanzano, Calabria, stopped showing up for work many years ago. The man and six other hospital employees are suspected of abuse of office, forgery of documents and aggravated extortion. 

It is reported that in 2005, he threatened the director of the hospital, who was going to file a disciplinary report on his absenteeism. After that, the director retired, and the man continued not to go to work, while his presence was never checked by either the HR department or the director's successor.

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera writes that the man was listed in the fire safety center of the hospital. At the moment, the truant is under investigation on charges of fraud, extortion and threats against colleagues. 

In addition, the investigation is being conducted against six other administrative staff of the hospital: investigators are investigating whether they were aware of the situation and whether they helped the main accused to continue to skip work with impunity. In addition, they examine hospital records and employee attendance records to understand when the accused was last at work. 

At the same time, the hospital administration and the personnel department claim that they knew nothing about what was happening, so it is unclear what exactly caused the police to launch an investigation. Italian media have already dubbed the hero of the scandal "the king of truants". 

A few years ago, in Italy, a broad discussion about absenteeism of employees of budget organizations already broke out. At the same time, a law was passed in the country, according to which an employee of a state organization who was caught in absenteeism could be immediately dismissed. However, no one will remember such grandiose absenteeism of 15 years here.