YANBU: Officials at the Ministry of Finance have identified 38 evacuated families from Al-Ais who tried to cheat the authorities by simultaneously registering their names in Yanbu and Madinah for government assistance.
“While scrutinizing lists of people who registered for financial assistance in the two cities, we found 38 families had registered themselves twice. Residents of other cities who own houses in Al-Ais also tried getting allowances illegally,” a source at the Ministry of Finance told Arab News yesterday.
The provincial authorities found accommodation for the evacuees in both Madinah and Yanbu. Evacuated families are permitted to register for assistance only in one city. But some people registered their names in both cities to double their allowances.
The source said heads of some of the involved families claimed that they registered twice as they supported two families — one in Madinah and another in Yanbu.
The allowances are distributed at a maximum weekly rate of SR1,500 for rations and another SR1,500 for housing. The minimum allowance is SR1,000 per couple, in addition to SR50 for rations per each family member.
The allowances could be higher for families that have not been provided with furnished accommodation. The official said he would send a report on the attempted fraud to the concerned authorities for penal action.
Some 1,100 families in Yanbu receive both rations and rent allowances as they stay with relatives, while 680 families are paid only rations as they are accommodated in furnished apartments by the authorities. Ten expatriate families are among the evacuees.
Meanwhile, 51 expatriates from Al-Ais are still living in the Al-Faqaali camp. They are being helped by the Charity Warehouse in Yanbu.
