Adnan Al-Shibrawi
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — The Ministry of Social Affairs began withdrawing social insurance from ineligible recipients.
The ministry's supervisor for legal affairs, Abdulaziz Al-Qurayyan, said the ministry has already removed a total of 107,000 ineligible recipients from its social insurance payroll.
“The ministry is currently investigating all of the accounts on its payroll to ensure only eligible recipients are benefiting from social insurance. Once the investigation reveals an ineligible recipient, a representative from the ministry will officially inform him or her that they are ineligible to receive the support and the ministry will take steps to reclaim money deposited in their account,” said Al-Qurayyan.
He said some of the recipients had up to 100 real estate deeds in their name and others had several industrial or commercial registrations.
“The ineligible recipients are divided into two types: the first type are the ones enrolled on social insurance payroll by accident and the second type are the ones who had submitted forged documents to get social insurance support,” said Al-Qurayyan.
He added the first type is dealt with by notifying the recipient and giving him or her a deadline to refund the money received from the ministry.
“If the recipient did not pay back the money within the time frame given, the ministry will issue through its social insurance offices a final warning. If the recipient does not respond after the final warning, the ministry will then take legal action and sue the recipient,” said Al-Qurayyan.
He also said the second type is dealt with through the police as forgery or bribery are considered criminal offenses.
“The ministry determines the procedures after observing the status of the ineligible recipients and how they managed to crack through the system and get their account details on the payroll. The ministry’s database is now connected to databases of other directorates and ministries,” said Al-Qurayyan.
He also said since the ministry began organizing inspection campaigns on its recipients and conducting routine checks to ensure there has not been any new case of fraud.
