THE electronic linkage between the Ministry of Social Affairs and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has revealed that as many as 107,000 ineligible Saudi men and women were receiving social security assistance illegally for a number of years. The ministry has dropped a large number of them from its list of beneficiaries while it is currently scrutinizing many other cases. The ineligible cons were being paid about SR300 million in the form of monthly stipends. They are either employed in well-paying jobs, have commercial registrations, which means that they are doing business, own land and real estate or have other valuable properties. Some women who joined the list of beneficiaries because they were widows or divorcees have remarried but did not officiate their marriage contracts so as not to lose their social security money. The ministry's undersecretary Mohammed Al-Okala threatened to sue people who attempt to cheat the system and to bring back the money the ministry has spent on them. The money which has been illegally stolen by the con men and women was Zakat money which was paid by Muslims. Zakat money should go to the eight categories of eligible people mentioned in the Qur'an. How can some citizens be so un-Islamic and have the nerve to steal the Zakat money which is actually God's money? The question which is really puzzling me is: Where was this electronic linkage between social security and other government sectors? Why has it been delayed for all these years?
