LANSING (WWJ) -- During the pandemic, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (MUIA) paid out an estimated $8.5 million in fraudulent benefits according to a report by Deloitte & Touche.
On Thursday, the director of the MUIA, Julia Dale testified before the Joint Oversight Committee in Lansing about the findings and said the agency needs to "claw back as much taxpayer funding as possible."
Dale told senators she is outraged by the fraud that occurred, and is fully cooperating with the Office of Auditor General to restore the public's trust in her department.
"As a taxpayer and a career public servant, I share your outrage at the level of fraud and criminality that took place," said Dale. "I want to make sure that it never happens again."
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The report found almost all of the fraud occurred before October 2020, and estimated the agency was able to thwart $43.7 billion in fraud.
Dale said that since October 2020, the UIA has limited the rate of fraud and misrepresentation to just 0.57%, noting that it's less than the pre-pandemic fraud rate of 2%.
Dale added that they still need to prosecute those who defrauded the agency.
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Meanwhile, Senator Jeff Irwin said he's equally concerned about residents who tried to process legitimate claims.
"There are people who couldn't get through this Byzantine system -- Congress was incredibly foolish to run aid programs during a pandemic through state unemployment systems -- the systems weren't scaled for it, they weren't ready for it," said Irwin. "More importantly, in states like Michigan, our legislature had engineered our unemployment system to make it especially difficult to get benefits."
Dale said that her agency needs to "update and modernize" UIA and to invest in new technology in order to improve the experience for their customers.