Specialists describe the endowment file as undisclosed, and they pass on information about the existence of billions of suspended riyals, some of which are disputed in the courtroom. Although there is no official statistical figure that determines the size of endowment wealth, some specialists estimated it in billions, as this requires organization and a compass, while other specialists unanimously agreed on the importance of counting endowed funds and building a general information base about them.
And according to specialists in endowment issues, they described it as the most complex and most dangerous issues of real estate wealth because it is linked to old contracts and instruments and its transformation into qualitative, economic and social provisions that are not subject to negotiation and application with weak governance and control over the work of principals decades ago.
Integrity.. Do you interfere?
The theft of endowments took many forms that differ in methods, but they agree in essence that they are theft or usurpation of endowments without a legal or formal basis. Which made the law professor at the Institute of Public Administration and the international arbitrator, Dr. Muhammad al-Maqsoudi, demand that the General Authority for Awqaf do its work entrusted to it in the system, and it should not be satisfied with the present, but rather it should assist the competent government agencies in detecting any unknown or looted endowments and the need for the participation of the Control and Anti-Corruption Authority In the search file for looted endowments in the past, because of the great powers and capabilities it possesses, especially since the crimes of assaulting public money do not expire by time limitation.
The Authority inherited thousands of files
The corridors of the judiciary have recorded billions of mutual lawsuits between endowment overseers, endowment heirs, beneficiaries, and overlapping parties. Many of these cases included lawsuits about the existence of manipulation of endowment funds in billions of riyals about endowment properties scattered in all regions of the Kingdom, and specialists rely on the ability of the General Authority for Endowments, which was established years ago, to correct the matter. Although the Commission inherited a large load of files related to endowments.
According to observers, the development of endowments in the Kingdom witnessed several stages, given that the endowment is one of the resources to enhance the role of endowments in economic and social development and social solidarity. for Endowments 1437 AH; To regulate, preserve, develop, and develop endowments, in a way that fulfills the conditions of their endowers, and enhances their role in economic and social development and social solidarity, in accordance with the purposes of Islamic law and regulations, in addition to the support and keenness of the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council to support endowment projects; The Ministry has allocated judges for endowments in the courts to contribute to speeding up the endowment procedures and serving the endowments in the framework of supporting endowment projects and facilitating procedures related to them, such as documentation, certification, and cooperation with the General Authority for Endowments in order to achieve everything that would support the authority through the formation of a committee to codify the procedures for buying and selling and transferring endowments. And replacing them, engineering their procedures, and coordinating with the Saudi Residents Authority affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce in order to speed up the process of buying, selling, exchanging, and benefiting from endowments, which greatly contributed to supporting endowments and urging wealthy people to start ending their endowment procedures and encouraging those who are endowed to speed up charitable work. Among the regulations that ensure the governance of decisions and oversight of these actions; To ensure that it is on track and achieves the goals set for it.
Entry eligible sixth generation!
Lawyer Majed Qaroub revealed that endowment issues are considered among the most complex and dangerous issues of real estate wealth because they are linked to old contracts and sukuk and turn them into qualitative, economic and social provisions that are not subject to negotiation and application with poor governance and oversight of the work of principals, especially with the entry of some of the beneficiaries into the sixth generation. He said: One of the most important and most serious obstacles in endowment cases is the lack of adherence to precedents, judicial principles and fatwas that govern and regulate cases. And the consideration of the monopoly contracts are eternal and perpetual without any regard for the terms and conditions in the contract of monopoly, and this causes great harm to the monopolist and the endowment, in addition to not terminating the monopoly contract or rescinding it due to the failure of one of its conditions or violating them, such as the condition of paying the rent year by year, as well as not terminating it due to the removal of the rubble or part of it. or by the death of the beneficiary.
Qaroub explained that judicial work is under way to ensure the continuity of the monopolist contract, regardless of the extent of the monopolist's commitment to the terms of the contract or the condition of the monopolist property and the debris on it, even if they did not pay the rent for the monopolized land. Whether the named rent is based on its unfairness, then the owners become among the owners of millimes and the beneficiaries are among the owners of billions without right, explaining that it is fair and equitable to give everyone who has a right his right, when removing all or some of the rubble for the public interest. His land in a procedure for unclear legal and economic reasons.
Qaroub added that one of the most serious issues is allowing the waqf on the endowment, without the permission of the monopolist, and yet obliging the monopolist to bear the consequences of this negligence on the part of the monopolist, if he made a waqf on what he does not own and is not suitable for him to dispose of in this way, so he has lost the rights of the contract of hakr and the rights of the waqf. The land is the place of hoarding. Thus, giving priority to the interest of the monopolist over the monopolist caused the loss of many rights, as the monopolists trade the rubble and contract the monopolist with tens and sometimes hundreds of millions and carry out successive emptyings. Retroactive, as was done with all ownership deeds that were revoked by the state.
3 trillion riyals scattered
Lawyer Qaroub explained the difficulties of the endowment, including that the monopolist has no right to inquire about the instruments issued to the monopolists, which resulted in many monopolists extracting instruments of consolidation on the hakoura under their hands without the knowledge of the endowment, while the properties of the endowment and its limits are restricted in the municipality and the notary public. What is considered a clear and explicit attack on the endowment lands, similar to what happened on state property, which has made tens of billions for those who are not entitled to it, which requires investigation by the supervisory authorities and the fight against corruption.
Qaroub concluded by saying: The judicial treatment of the issue of endowments and the dealings taking place on them requires a comprehensive and radical review of judicial principles with their security, social and economic dimensions for this wealth, which is estimated at no less than 3 trillion riyals of real estate wealth concentrated in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Jeddah and some areas, especially Qassim. .
Stop the helpless cats and horses!
Professor of Law at the Institute of Public Administration and International Arbitrator, Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Al-Maqsoudi, presented a working paper on combating the theft of endowments and the retroactive effect on the above crimes, and said: The purposes of the endowment varied from spending on the poor, the needy, orphans, widows, passers-by, and the sick, to very important purposes such as defense About the homeland and spending on the stationed, down to the scientific and educational aspects. The endowments included issues considered in today's scale as side, such as the endowment on sick or aging animals such as cats, dogs, and helpless horses. And there are purposes that seem very simple, such as spending on vermin and insect hunters in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, or spending on needles and threads for the poor in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, and these may indicate the saturation of other aspects in the purposes of the endowment that may be more important.
Al-Maqsudi asked a question: How can the General Authority for Endowments preserve the assets of endowments effectively and retroactively? And he answered by saying: There is no doubt that the Authority is striving to do this, and people in some regions of our country used everything they collected in their lives to buy real estate or agricultural land to endow it for charitable works. The area of agricultural lands endowed for the Two Holy Mosques alone is 6281 feddans. In the Qatif region, the percentage of endowed lands reached 60% of the total agricultural lands there in some periods. And the rest of the old and modern endowments were measured against it on the area of a country like ours, which is vast in area; Therefore, it is feared that the endowments in any area will be lost because of the weak souls.
Dispelling misconceptions
An expert at the Islamic Fiqh Academy and a professor of jurisprudence studies at King Abdulaziz University, Dr. Hassan Safar, said: The endowment needs organized efforts to advance it, and a great and intensive effort on the part of the media, wealth owners, and those in charge of public funds departments. To remove misconceptions about it and promote this important project, which can be the first remedy for the problem of poverty and the most powerful tool for achieving development, providing social services in an orderly manner, and raising the status of endowment work and strengthening it to support economic and social development.
The heirs demand the recovery of 23 properties
The Ministry of Justice recorded in the set of judicial rulings a number of endowment cases that were considered by Saudi courts, as some of the heirs of a businessman filed a lawsuit against the administrator of their father’s endowment, which consists of 23 properties worth more than one and a half billion riyals, and demanded the cancellation of the endowment deed and the return of the funds endowed to them and the rest of the heirs under the pretext That the endowment took over most of the money and that the endowment lost the legal capacity in the event of the endowment, and that the endowment was issued by the Southern Court of the Kingdom, and most of the real estate is located in the Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, and the endowment lived before his death in Makkah, and the proceeds of the endowment were allocated to spend on charitable works in general, building mosques and helping young people Those in need to get married, help the poor, widows, orphans, debtors, debtors, prisoners and other needy people, equip hospitals and permanent and temporary health centers, provide medical equipment, treat patients, dialysis, translation and printing works, serve the Qur’an, sponsor orphans, free necks and other charitable works.
From the court archives, a Saudi court initiated a lawsuit against the waqf administrator on charges of financial corruption in amounts exceeding one billion riyals.
In another case, a number of brothers requested the cancellation of their father's endowment because they were harmed by the fact that the endowment was for children and the offspring of males, not females.
Adnan Shabrawi (Jeddah) @Adnanshabrawi