Concerns have been raised about structural problems in the compensation system after the police detained many people for cheating the families of deceased migrant workers of their compensation. In the last four days, eight people have been detained by the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, Minbhawan, including government officers and insurance workers. On Thursday, six of them were busted in Gongabu.
Various documents, including passports, citizenship, birth, marriage and death certificates, recommendation letters from ward offices and letterheads of insurance companies were also seized, the police said in a statement issued on Friday. A computer operator at the Foreign Employment Board, a government agency responsible for the welfare of migrant workers, was arrested in Kathmandu on Friday. A junior official at Surya Jyoti Life Insurance Company was caught in Bhaktapur on Saturday, according to the police. Superintendent of Police Rabindra Regmi at the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office told the Post that the arrested individuals were handed over to the District Police Range, Teku.
“We have launched a formal investigation,” Regmi said. “There might be a bigger network.”
Regmi said the issue came to light after a woman from Dhanusha complained that she received only Rs500,000 in insurance pay-out after the death of her husband. Her migrant worker husband died in Nepal three months after returning from Saudi Arabia. Migrant workers’ families are entitled to receive as much as Rs1.4 million in insurance money in case of death. Workers pay Rs3,708 to Rs9,463 depending on their age as insurance premium before leaving for foreign destinations. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the insurance premium is Rs3,708 for workers aged 18 to 35 years, Rs4,931 for those aged 36 to 50 and Rs9,463 for those aged 51-60 years.
“During our investigation, we found that the defrauders became close with the workers’ families by promising help to get the insurance money,” said SP Regmi. “They help the victim’s families with the paperwork, and swindle them out of the money when it is released.”
Rajan Paudel, information officer at the Foreign Employment Board, told the Post that the alleged involvement of a board employee in the fraud case was very unfortunate. There is a mechanism to deposit the insurance money and other compensation directly in the bank accounts of the family members.
“The payment should be made within a week after verifying the documents,” said Paudel. “The recent arrests have uncovered loopholes in the existing system.” Umesh Prasad Mainali, information officer at Surya Jyoti, did not elaborate on the issue. “The case is under investigation. We will review the internal mechanism to eliminate such flaws in the future.”
The families of deceased migrant workers are also entitled to a one-time financial assistance of Rs700,000 from the Migrant Workers Welfare Fund in case of death within a year after the end of their labour approval. They get only Rs25,000 after the one-year period.
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