JEDDAH: The number of cases which have been dropped by social security 24 hours following the automatic linkage between social security and social insurance reached 107,000.

Aid was stopped in these cases because they are not eligible for coverage for reasons that include ownership of land and property, in addition to holding jobs, commercial registrations, marriage and in some cases the death of beneficiaries.

The Ministry of Social Affairs announced in an official statement that the first phase of activating technical and electronic linkage between the ministry and other government bodies resulted in the dropping more than 107,000 social security cases.

Sources at social security estimated sums taken through false pretenses reached SR300 million in one month with no information on the number of months these people benefited.

Undersecretary for Social Insurance Affairs Mohammad Al-Oqala said the ministry is studying the legal side of recovering the money which was taken under false pretenses especially since the bulk of the money allocated to social security is from Zakat money that should only given to the needy, according to Shariah.

Al-Oqala said the ministry is working hard to complete electronic linkage and technical cooperation with its partners to ensure Zakat money reaches those who deserve it. He confirmed that the ministry is going through the first phase of implementing governance requirements and building partnerships with a number of sectors and government bodies, at the top of which is electronic linkage with the Ministry of Justice, social insurance, the Ministry of Civil Service, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Zakat department, through comprehensive government channels for the Yesser Program.

Because of these partnerships the Ministry of Social Affairs revealed the existence of 69,261 violations of the rules and regulations that qualify them for social security. Those involved in the violations have been immediately dropped from the list of beneficiaries, in addition to stopping payments for 38,121 cases to investigated and checked for eligibility.

Ten percent of the total number of beneficiaries were found to be fraudulent.

The undersecretary said that these cases were dropped from social security services because the Ministry of Social Affairs discovered they owned land and properties, while some had jobs and commercial registrations, and others applied for industrial and investment loans, in addition to the discovery that some beneficiaries were dead.

The Ministry of Social Affairs spends around SR2.4 billion a month for 910,000 beneficiaries of social security; of this sum, SR1.4 billion is in the form of monthly salaries, while SR1 billion is used to pay electricity bills, support productive families and the supplementary food program.