Social insurance funds are protected under the constitution, the minister of social solidarity has assured.

Insurance money and pensions are considered public funds that should be protected by the state, Ghada Wali said Wednesday.

Estimated to reach 579 billion pounds, the social insurance funds and pensions are safely invested inside Egypt, Wali said.

She put the number of people covered by social insurance until June 30, 2014 at 17 million.

The number of pensioners stands at 8.6 million, Wali added.

The minister's remarks came in light of a probe conducted by the Administrative Prosecution Authority (APA) into corruption charges against the National Social Insurance Authority (NSIA).

On Tuesday, the APA referred former prime minister Ahmed Nazif and former finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali to the public prosecution on charges of tampering with 455 billion pounds worth of social insurance funds in 2009

Wali said the case is still being investigated by the prosecution, who will sure announce their findings to the public.

A committee has been formed to follow up investments of the two social insurance funds, she said.

The committee is tasked with revising investments of the funds that brought in some two billion pounds in revenues, Wali added.

It will also outline a medium-term strategy to invest social insurance money, the minister further said.

The committee is currently studying similar experiments in a number of countries to set up a perfect system to invest and manage social insurance funds, Wali noted.
Source: MENA