Banks can’t cut loan installment from employee bonus — SAMA

February 6, 2015

Jeddah, Feb 6: The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has ordered all Saudi banks not to touch the two-month salary bonus granted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to all Saudi government and military employees, retirees and students.

Saudi Arabian

According to Talat Hafiz, secretary-general of Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi Banks, this procedure will protect Saudis who are eligible to take advantage of the royal decree, but have been required to pay bank loans.

“SAMA’s instructions are clear to all Saudi banks. There are several Saudi state employees who are required to pay bank loans. At the same time, the two-month bonus is considered a gift from King Salman to Saudis and banks do not have the right to deduct anything from these benefits,” Hafiz told Arab News.

Most Saudis prefer to work in a limited number of major Saudi companies, such as Saudi Aramco, SABIC and other large national employers that have a good reputation with local banks, making it easier for employees at these companies to secure loans.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf on Wednesday informed all government departments that his ministry has started providing them with additional funds to implement the royal decree.

Al-Assaf also instructed the ministries and departments to pay the two-month bonus to all the retirees including those who have been allowed to take long leave because of pregnancy or disease.

“The bonus shall be paid on the basis of the latest basic salary while the two-month stipend shall be given to only students of government universities and colleges,” he said.

Referring to government employees who pursue higher studies abroad on scholarship, Al-Assaf said they would be treated like scholarship students in foreign countries and paid only two-month remuneration. He also instructed ministries to avoid double payment. “The bonus payment should not be linked with the timing of the payment of usual salary,” the minister said.

The total bonus for government employees, retirees and students would amount to SR110 billion.

Fadiya Al-Fawaz, an expert in social responsibility programs, said major Saudi companies would cut down their allocations for their CSR programs in 2015 as a result of the payment of bonus. She said fall in oil prices would also affect CSR programs for social welfare this year.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Sharjah, Apr 20: Air Arabia announced on Monday it will operate new repatriation flights from four cities in India to Sharjah carrying UAE nationals back home.

The special flights will operate from Mumbai and Delhi to Sharjah International Airport on April 20 while special flights will operate from Kochi and Hyderabad to Sharjah International Airport on April 22.

Air Arabia remains committed to bring stranded citizens back home as well as supporting requests to operate repatriation flights and is working closely with UAE authorities in this regard, the airline said.

Air Arabia announced earlier that it’s operating a mix of repatriation flights as well as cargo flights during the month of April to multiple destinations.

Further information about the repatriation and cargo flights is available on the website or can be obtained by contacting the Air Arabia call centre on 06 5580000 or respective travel agent.

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News Network
May 4,2020

Dubai, May 4: An Indian salesman in the UAE has won a whopping 10 million dirhams at an Abu Dhabi draw, a media report said.

Dileep Kumar Ellikkottil Parameswaran, from Kerala’s Thrissur, works with an auto spare parts company in Ajman and earns 5,000 dirhams (USD 1,361) a month, Gulf News reported on Sunday.

Parameswaran, who won the 10 million dirhams (USD 2.7 million) prize at the Big Ticket draw in Abu Dhabi, will spend a big part of the money to repay a loan of 700,000 dirhams (USD 190,574 ), according to the report.

He said that a good part of the prize money will be spent on the education of his two children.

Parameswaran, who has been a resident of the UAE for 17 years, lives in Ajman along with his family.

Big Ticket is the largest and longest-running monthly raffle draw for cash prizes and dream luxury cars in Abu Dhabi.

A live monthly draw is organized at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on 3rd of each month.

Tickets are sold for 500 dirhams (USD 136).

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Agencies
July 19,2020

Occupied Jerusalem, Jul 19: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed on Sunday.

Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals in which he is alleged to have received lavish gifts from billionaire friends and exchanged regulatory favors with media moguls for more agreeable coverage of himself and his family.

Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, painting the accusations as a media-orchestrated witchhunt pursued by a biased law enforcement system.

The trial opened in May. Just before appearing in front of the judges, Netanyahu took to a podium inside the courthouse and flanked by his party members bashed the country’s legal institutions in an angry tirade.

Netanyahu was not expected to appear at Sunday’s hearing, which is taking place at an occupied Jerusalem court and is mostly a procedural deliberation.

The trial resumes as Netanyahu faces widespread anger over his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

While the country appeared to have tamped down a first wave of infections, what’s emerged as a hasty and erratic reopening sent infections soaring. Yet even amid the rise in new cases Netanyahu and his emergency government — formed with the goal of dealing with the crisis — appeared to neglect the numbers and moved forward with other policy priorities and its reopening plans.

It has since paused them and even re-impose restrictions, including a weekend only lockdown set to begin later this week.

Netanyahu’s government has been criticized for a baffling, halting response to the new wave, which has seen daily cases rise to nearly 2,000. It has been slammed for its handling of the economic fallout of the crisis.

His trial thus comes at inopportune timing. Netanyahu had hoped to ride on the goodwill he gained from overcoming the first wave of infections going into his corruption trial, but the increasingly souring mood has affected his approval rating and may deny him the public backing he had hoped for. The anger has sparked protests over the past few weeks that have culminated in violent clashes with police.

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