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SECTION IX.
FRAUDS UPON PUBLIC FUNDS, ETC.
General.
1. It is important that, as far as possible, the Police should co- operate with and assist Government Departments in the detection of fraud against public monies and in the prosecution of offenders. They should report to the proper authority any information coming into their possession which tends to show that a person is improperly receiving benefit from public funds, and should answer all inquiries made of them by such authorities, so far as lies within their power.
Old Age Pensions Acts.
2. False statements in connection with claims to old age pensions are punishable under section 9 (1) of the Act of 1908.
3. Information in possession of the Police with regard to the antecedents of persons claiming old age pensions should be supplied to Pension Officers on inquiry.
4. The payment of a pension when granted can be subsequently discontinued, if later information shows that the pensioner was disqualified from receiving it, and any such later information that the Police obtain should be communicated to the Pension Officer.
5. Any person sentenced on conviction to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to any greater punishment, is disqualified from receiving or continuing to receive an old age pension while he is in prison; the Police should accordingly report all such sentences to the Pension Officer concerned.
6. A Court may order a disqualification for a period not exceeding ten years to attach to any person of sixty years of age or upwards. who, being convicted, is liable to have a detention order made against him under the Inebriates Act, 1898 (see section 3 (3) of the Act of 1908). The Police should report any such order of disqualification to the Pension Officer concerned.
Unemployment Insurance Acts.
7. Proceedings in cases of fraud or attempted fraud under the Unemployment Insurance Acts are conducted by the Solicitor to the Ministry of Labour or his agents and, for the purpose of detecting offences, it is desirable that there should be the closest co-operation between the Police and the officers of the Ministry of Labour.
8. If the manager of an Employment Exchange suspects that a fraudulent claim has been made and he is unable to obtain all the facts
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himself, he will communicate with the Police, stating the facts which have come to his knowledge and pointing out the direction in which inquiries should be made. In any case referred to the Police for inquiry, criminal proceedings should not be instituted by them, and any information obtained should be sent at once to the manager of the Exchange.
9. If in the course of their duties the Police become aware or suspect that a person is claiming benefit to which he is not entitled, the manager of the Employment Exchange should be informed immediately.
10. It should be borne in mind-
(i) that an applicant must not claim unemployment benefit for
any day:
(a) unless he is unemployed throughout that day from mid-
night to mid-night (see note below)* ;
(b) unless he is capable of and available for work on that day and is genuinely seeking work but unable to obtain suitable employment;
(c) if he is in receipt of sickness or disablement benefit under
the National Health Insurance Acts;
(d) if he is in receipt of a pension under the Old Age Pension
Acts or under the Blind Persons Act, 1920 ;
(1) that if an applicant has lost his employment through mis- conduct or has voluntarily left it without just cause, he is disqualified from receiving benefit for a period not exceeding six weeks from the date when he so lost or left his employ- ment;
(iii) that an applicant is disqualified from receiving benefit while he is an inmate of any prison or any workhouse or other institution supported wholly out of public funds. This disqualification does not apply in cases where the institution of which the applicant is an inmate is used as a place of residence for workers, and the applicant proves that he was an inmate of the institution immediately before he became unemployed and that during the time when he was employed he paid the whole or a substantial part of the cost of his maintenance as an inmate. Further, the disqualification does not apply to a case where a person obtains a single night's lodging in a casual ward.
*The Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, provides that a person shall not be deemed to be unemployed on any day on which he is following any occupation from which he derives any remuneration or profit. There is only one exception to this rule, viz.; that benefit may be payable if a claimant can prove that the occupation from which he derives remuneration or profit has ordinarily been followed by him in addition to his usual employment and outside the ordinary working hours of that employment and that the remunera- tion or profit received therefrom does not exceed 3s. 4d. per day,
(B3/858)
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