JEDDAH — Sulaiman Al-Humaid, Governor of the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), has criticized the lack of substantial punishments that fall short of deterring companies from playing with the numbers in the Saudization program. In a report published Tuesday by Al-Jazirah newspaper, Al-Humaid said they had discovered 20 Saudi women were recorded as employed as workers in gas stations. “This is a painful picture of fraudulent Saudization which is usually prevalent in small companies and establishments,” he staid. The GOSI governor was making his comments during a symposium organized by the newspaper in which Labor Minister Adel Fakeih was the main speaker. “We have a system in GOSI which can rapidly discover such fraud but unfortunately the punishments are not harsh enough to stop owners of small enterprises from manipulating the concept of Saudization or giving incorrect information,” he said. Al-Humaid said the fine of SR5,000 imposed on companies who resort to fraud was not enough. “The business owners who exploit loopholes in the insurance system should be severely punished,” he said. The governor said before the launching of Nitaqat program in April 2011, the number of Saudis registered at GOSI was 713,000 and this figure has now reached 1,138,000. “Before Nitaqat, the foreigners who were registered with GOSI were 4,064,000 but their number has increased by more than a million now to reach 5,684,000,” he said. All these foreigners were already in the Kingdom before the introduction of Nitaqat program but they were not registered with GOSI. “After we were connected with the data base of the Interior Ministry, the registration of foreigners in GOSI has become compulsory,” he added. According to the governor, expatriates now represent 83 percent of people registered with GOSI while Saudis represent 17 percent.. “Before Nitaqat, we had 77,000 females and now we have 202,000. The number of students before the introduction of the program was 26,000; now they have reached 97,000,” he added. — SG
