Memo signed to activate Zakat bank to bail debtors

AMMAN — The ministries of awqaf and justice and the Public Security Department (PSD) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Sahm Al Gharimat “female debtors share” to activate a Zakat bank to bail debtors.

Awqaf Minister Abdul Nasser Abul Bassal said that the memo stipulates that conducting social and field visits to each debtor before the ministry, in cooperation with stakeholders and the Zakat Fund, can pay their debts and release them from reform and rehabilitation centres, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Abul Bassal added that Islam is a religion of tolerance and mercy, noting that religious and humanitarian motives require standing by underprivileged families who were forced to sign financial commitments due to difficult living conditions.

Justice Minister Awad Abu Jarad expressed the ministry’s readiness to examine the debtors’ list to be received from the PSD, and to sort them before acquainting the Awqaf Ministry with results of the assessment. He said they will then make a decision on paying back the debts through the Zakat Fund. 

PSD Director Maj. Gen. Fadel Hmoud said that the department will provide lists of debtor inmates for the two ministries to examine their cases and implement this memo.

The “female debtors share” is one of the Zakat Fund’s aid programmes, for which JD500,000 has been allocated to help release women imprisoned for failing to pay their debts.

The maximum value of debts covered by the fund is JD1,500.

After conducting studies on the situation of underprivileged families, the Zakat Fund financed 66 enterprises including grocery shops, shops selling detergents, cattle, food shops and plumbing enterprises, at a total cost of JD118,000 until July 2017.