‘Insurance Firms To Resume Work After Deal Reached With Police’

The Kingdom’s insurance firms will resume work on Thursday after an agreement put an end to their one-day strike.

The Jordan Insurance Federation ( JIF ) had announced that the entire sector would go on strike on Wednesday and Thursday to pressure the government to take action against “gangs” these firms say are using fraudulent claims to force the companies to pay them money.

JIF President Othman Budair said the problem was resolved on Wednesday in a meeting with representatives of the Public Security Department’s preventive security unit and the Ministry of Interior.

“The PSD decided to station two of its personnel and two members of the preventive security department outside every insurance firm starting tomorrow to provide their employees with security in case they are attacked by these gangs,” Budair told The Jordan Times over the phone.

He also said police would patrol the areas where the insurance firms are located.

“The insurance sector is satisfied with this solution because employees will feel safe now,” the JIF president stressed.

The gangs in question, Budair said on Tuesday, stage car accidents in order to collect fraudulent insurance claims, then attack the firms and their employees to intimidate them into paying these claims.

These frequent attacks, he added on Wednesday, have forced several auto insurers out of business in recent years.

Budair also alleged that 30 per cent of payouts issued by insurance companies go towards fraudulent claims.

Jordan Times