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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