Minister’s letter gives cover to bogus job agency

An illegal job agency which made use of a letter issued by Labour Minister Athauda Seneviratne to claim it was entitled to send Sri Lankans to Korea, has been raided by the Peliyagoda Special Crimes Investigation Bureau (SCIB), on complaints that it had duped some of the prospective job seekers.

The Labour Minister had discussions with the company officials and had issued the unregistered job agency a letter saying he had no objections if the company would find job opportunities for 3,000 Sri Lankans, in Korea through the company.

According to police, the bogus agency had allegedly hoodwinked people by promising jobs in Korea, claiming that the Labour Ministry had allocated them a job quota.

They had showed a copy of the letter issued by the minister to convince the prospective clients.

This letter dated April 5, 2005 and titled ‘Employment in Korea for Sri Lankans’ states that “Reference to the discussion your officials had with me in my Ministry at Narahenpita on April 3 and 4 on the above subject, we have no objection in providing 3,000 jobs in Korea, already allocated by Hansoo Construction Co. Ltd., in Korea for Sri Lankans by your Association subject to approval being obtained from Korean Government” ..

However Minister Athauda Seneviratne told The Sunday Times his letter did not say he had agreed to provide job opportunities to the particular company. He charged the company had misled the people by giving them false promises.He said the letter was issued to enable the agency to discuss with the Korean Government and obtain an opportunity to train Sri Lankan job seekers who were already selected by M/s Hansoo Construction Co. Ltd in Korea.

But the letter, a copy of which is in the possession of The Sunday Times, does not mention anything about training.

According to the FEB Act, only licensed agents are permitted to send employees abroad. As regards jobs in South Korea, an MoU was reached between the Sri Lankan Government and the Korean Government. In terms of the MoU, job quotas are shared among the Foreign Employment Bureau (FEB), the Foreign Employment Agency and another private company.

The racket came to light when some disappointed job seekers lodged complaints with the Foreign Employment Bureau (FEB). The company was known to have initially conducted Korean language classes to people before entering the recruitment business.

SCIB Inspector K.D. Fernando told The Sunday Times that they received ten complaints from the FEB. He said that according to complaints the Korean job seekers had paid amounts ranging from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 50,000.

He said in the course of their investigations, the company chairman was arrested and produced in courts on charges of defrauding job seekers. He was remanded till Monday.

Inspector Fernando said the suspect had maintained he was only conducting Korean language classes and had never promised to send anybody to Korea or mention anything about quotas being offered to him by the ministry.

FEB investigating unit manager Neville Moses said the bureau had received as many as 300 complaints from people.

People who sought Korean jobs through this company had been charged Rs. 9,500 which included Rs. 5,000 for Korean language classes, Rs. 2,500 for registration and Rs. 2,000 for medical purposes.

He said he believed the company had obtained money from some 5,000 people in this manner.