Kuwait nurses recruitment scam: Fraudsters Shift Activities to Gulf

Agencies

Private recruiters facing restrictions in recruitment of nurses to foreign countries have found a new way to overcome the curbs - shifting activities to Dubai. The trend has made enforcement agencies in Kerala, and across the country, remain mute spectators as the foreign land is beyond their jurisdiction.

There have been reports that a large number of nurses pursuing employment in the Kuwait Ministry of Health (MOH) travelled to Dubai for attending interview.

Meanwhile, the CBI has not made any breakthrough in its attempts to extradite Al-Zarafa Manpower Consultants and Travels owner Uthup Varghese from Abu Dhabi.

In an interview given to news channels in Dubai, Uthup said he was not in the custody of any enforcement agency, either in India or abroad. He said there was nothing illegal about the procedures followed for recruiting nurses to Kuwait, and that the process would continue until there is demand for nurses abroad.

In March this year, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs issued an order banning private agencies from recruiting nurses for jobs in 18 countries.

In Kerala, the recruitment procedures are coordinated by government-run agency NoRKA. Even NoRKA is short of ideas when it comes to taking action against the agencies that conduct examination and interview abroad.

As per NoRKA, recruitment is progressing in Dubai, and the agencies are targeting to fill 1,500 vacancies in the Kuwait MOH by October-end. The recruited nurses have been asked to pay around Rs 30 lakh each.

Earlier, various agencies, including the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department had filed cases against various recruitment agencies for collecting exorbitant fees, upto Rs 19.5 lakh, from candidates, while the fee stipulated by the government is only Rs 19,500.