Criminals who engage in business activities circumvent laws and regulations and abuse the tax-financed welfare systems.
Linköping is one of five municipalities participating in a national pilot project whose goal is to stop grant and assistance fraud, through strengthened collaboration.
Procurement is a risk area
- In procurements, for example, there is a risk that companies with criminal links may try to win an agreement with the municipality, says security manager Anders Fernemark.
The pilot project is led by the Police's national operational department (NOA) and during a first meeting, the municipality was given an account of the risk areas they see linked to welfare crimes.
Requires collaboration
- We have come a long way ourselves, but it is only when we can get an effective collaboration with the police and other authorities that we can really access this crime, says the municipal board chairman Niklas Borg (M).
An important part is also to break the criminal recruitment at an early stage.
School and social services play an important role there.
In addition to Linköping, the municipalities of Södertälje, Örebro, Helsingborg and Uppsala are participating in the pilot project.