Following the revelation of 4 February that two employees of the National Health Fund had stolen €2 million in funds, the CNS's management it would proceed with an in-depth analysis of its system. Three months later, the results of the external audit have been passed on to the relevant parliamentary commission. The audit took over 3,000 hours of work to complete, examining more than 100 million documents in the process.
The two fraudsters systematically faked invoices from doctors from abroad. Price Waterhouse Cooper, the firm charged with the audit, confirmed that both cases were unrelated and that there had been no indication that the employees had collaborated.
Whilst the firm noted irregularities in several thousand cases, only 400 of those cases were linked to financial fraud. The Minister of Social Security, Romain Schneider, confirmed that all of these cases were related to the two embezzling employees.
Whilst Schneider acknowledged that €2 million embezzled over the course of ten years is a significant sum, he highlighted that in comparison with the total volume of funds handled, it only constituted 0.005% of the CNS's funds. Fraud is certainly a crime, he confirmed, but the amount embezzled had been minimal.
The CNS will now how to deal with additional fees, president Christian Oberlé confirmed. First, it will have to pay for the audit, which cost €500,000, and it will have to hire two new employees.
In addition to this, Oberlé added that the fund had requested additional resources due to its growth in general as well as in order to ensure embezzlement does not occur again. He contemplated whether the National Health Fund had perhaps been stingy in the number of its employees, but reiterated that the fund had requested more support.
Already, the CNS has taken initial measures to combat fraud. From now on, a manager must verify files with sums higher than €2,000. Every other file now gets checked by two people. In addition, employees are to receive continuous training on the job. The CNS intends to implement further measures as well.
CNS has employed internal auditor since April 2018. This auditor now has 18 months to establish a control system in collaboration with CNS collaborators. The CNS is also working together with an external experienced office in order to make its new control system as efficient as possible.
The fund will introduce a new general system over the coming years with an impetus on digitalisation to help its employees.
Embezzlement and fraud: Charges pressed against two CNS employees
