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Staff Reporter THE central Government is planning to carry out 570 inspections in companies in the Balearic Islands to detect any fraudulent claims regarding the current immigration ruling process and any employers that are cheating the new system could be fined up to 60'000 euros.

The Government expects this number of inspections in the Balearic Islands to significantly increase because there are many controls that are in place to report any irregularities in the process.

The aim of this inspection campaign is to control the immigration situation and to be sure that immigrants are legally working on the islands and that there are no companies who are exploiting immigrant workers, Ramón Socías, the Government representative, said yesterday at a press conference.

Socías added that this inspection campaign is aimed at those companies who are seeking to employ more people in spite of not having the economic and social means necessary to be able to do this, and at those companies who cannot justify the need to increase their work force.

In addition, these controls will focus on domestic help workers and will be examining those cases where “there is an exaggerated number of workers”. The controls are looking into this area as the new ruling meant that each domestic help worker has to apply for the process and not the employers, and for this reason it could be easier to make fraudulent claims.

The Administration team will be also be assessing all the information they have on their systems so they can spot any business frauds, with fines of up to 60'000 euros if found to be guilty.

It is hoped that this inspection process will allow the Government to uncover any organised groups who are exploiting immigrant workers.
There will be sufficient people involved in these business controls in the Balearic Islands, 17 inspectors and 14 deputy inspectors in the Balearic Islands. Although, if these inspectors do detect any frauds they can ask for additional help.

Employers must use this unique opportunity to normalise the situation of their workers, said Socías, who added that once this process has been completed there will be “absolutely no tolerance” for cheating companies.

Since the start of the immigration process in the Balearic Islands, the Government workers have dealt with 2'200 submissions and have dealt with 3'547 information requests, of which it is estimated that 80 percent will opt for the immigration process, he said.

Out of all these submissions, 900 have been from domestic help workers, which represents “a good indicator” on the improvement in the economy, said Socías.