Retirees and pensioners who received undue discounts from the National Social Security Institute (INSS) have until February 14 to request reimbursement, announced the president of the institute, Gilberto Waller. In an interview with the program, Voice of Brazilhe gave an updated assessment of the requests.
According to President Waller, around 6.2 million beneficiaries contested undue INSS discounts, of which 4.1 million beneficiaries have already been reimbursed, in amounts that total R$ 2.8 billion. The government estimates, however, that there are still 3 million retirees and pensioners able to request a refund.
THE original deadline would end on November 14th. However, the Ministry of Social Security has decided to extend the period to ensure that all those affected can register their claims.
The undue discount scheme was revealed by Operation Without Discounttriggered by the Federal Police and the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), which identified fraud in Technical Cooperation Agreements (ACTs) signed between the INSS and associative entities. The investigations led to the removal of part of the institute’s leadership in April.
In the interview, Gilberto Waller highlighted the coordinated effort of federal agencies to compensate victims of unauthorized discounts. The president of INSS also highlighted the union between the institute, the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the CGU and the Federal Police to track the misappropriated resources and take legal action to recover the money.
How to request a return
Beneficiaries can open reimbursement requests through official INSS channels:
- Meu INSS application or website, with login to the Gov.br Portal;
- Telephone 135, with free service from Monday to Saturday, from 7am to 10pm;
- Post offices, which offer free support in more than 5 thousand units.
