Benefit cheats to get up to six years in jail: Italian minister

Rome, Oct 5 (IANS/AKI) Those who fraudulently claim the government's planned basic citizen's wage of 780 euros a month will face up to six years in prison, Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio said on Friday.

"Those who lounge around at home on their couch will not receive a single euro as everyone's days will be filled with training and public works," Di Maio told Italian lawmakers.

"This means they won't have time to work in the black. And whoever cheats will get up to six years in jail," he said.

In a TV interview on Friday, Di Maio said the citizen's income would be credited via a bank card which cannot be used for gaming or to pay for holidays.

"Being electronic, the card will be disabled for certain kinds of spending," he told Italian public broadcaster Rai 3's Agora talk show.

The populist government's 2019 budget plan allocates nine billion euros for its flagship "citizenship wage".

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte claimed that the basic universal income for the country's poorest will save five million people from penury and bring long-overdue social justice to the country.

-IANS/AKI

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