Social Policy Minister Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has asked the police to investigate cases of benefit fraud revealed by the National Audit Office in a report tabled in Parliament on Monday.

Among other cases, the report revealed that a man continued to receive invalidity pension even after he was caught twice working in construction.

€21,000 were given through a pension for the visually impaired to a man who took part in boxing matches and provided security services, while a businessman carried out transactions of some €3.4 million while he received social benefits of €76,000.

The audit office also reported that no action was taken in several cases where benefits were paid to mothers who falsely claimed the fathers of their babies were unknown.

The minister also announced that she had set up a working group to analyse the Auditor General's recommendations.

Government financial consultant Maurice Mullard, who will be chairing the task force ,said the current benefit system was old and complex and needed to be simplified and made more transparent.

The aim was to ensure that benefits could be increased for the more vulnerable by curbing abuse.

Speaking during a news conference on the report, which dealt with the years 2010-2012, Ms Coleiro Preca pointed out that since she became minister in 2013, she took various measures to tackle the inefficiencies she found at the Social Security Department where there were a lack of resources and basic policies. The department even lacked an  ICT system, she said.

She immediately set up an internal working group to work on a single means testing mechanism.

The Social Security Department also started working on better coordination with the Public Registry, the Tax Compliance Unit and the Employment and Training Corporation, as well as better collaboration with banks.

She pointed out that the report did not only speak about abuse but also about inefficiency.