Agency accused of trying to dupe 292 over Canada jobs

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Dec 12: In an apparent attempt to dupe 292 Nepali job-seekers offering lucrative jobs in Canada, one of the oldest Nepali manpower companies was found to have submitted fake documents including workers demand letter seeking prior approval from the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) to initiate recruiting process.

The 27 years old Everest International Manpower Supply Service based in Satdobato Lalitpur- sought prior-approval from the DoFE on Sunday to publish advertisement of the falsified vacancies of different jobs in a shipping company operating in both Canada and the UK, in an apparent bid to rack in hundreds of millions of rupees from the unemployed Nepali youths.

According to the documents submitted at DoFE, a London-based Manpower UK Robert Ltd, which was found non-existent, brokered the jobs in a shipping company through the Nepali manpower agency.

The demand letter states that the shipping company offered jobs for waiters, waitresses, room cleaners, caregiver, bar boys, receptionists, office cleaners, painters, carpenters, fish packers, ship cleaners, laundry men, barbers and assistant cooks. Of the offered jobs, 246 were for male and 46 for female workers.

Salary offer for the post ranged from US$ 2,800 and US$3,500 per month excluding overtime allowance under the two-year job contracts depending on the job catagories. The agency has, however tried to collect Rs 136,000 per person for the Canadian jobs which includes Rs 5,000 in service charge and Rs 131,000 in other charges-in line with the government-set charge for Canadian jobs.

The job demand letter from the employer company, which the Nepali agency submitted for prior approval to send workers to Canada, was proved fake after DoFE officials inquired about the authenticity of the document with Nepalese embassy in Canada.

“In response to our query, our ambassador to Canada Bhoj Raj Ghimire, who is currently in Kathmandu, told us that the document submitted to us by the manpower agency is fake,” Purna Chandra Bhattarai, director general of DoFE told Republica on Tuesday.

After the astonishing revelation, the DoFE is preparing to file case against the Nepal´s second oldest recruitment agency.

Resident of Godawari, Lalitpur,Uddin Bahadur Rai, the proprietor of the agency had submitted the demand letter undersigned by fake signature of ambassador Ghimire along with other sham documents such as authorization letter by the employer company, labor contract letters, among others, to secure the prior approval to initiate the process to select the workers, officials said.

Initial investigation by the DoFE into the fraud case revealed that Rai is also the ex-captain of British Gorkha Army who had already lived for around three decades in the UK.

“I secured the demands for worker from the personal relation of the employer company which is headquartered in London and operate in Canada also,” claimed Rai, who was summoned by DoFE for inquiry on Tuesday.