The Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) has failed to get back around Rs 16 million dispatched from the overseas workers´ welfare fund to three Nepali manpower agencies as an advance for repatriating Nepali workers who were in crisis in war-ravaged Libya last year.

The FEPB had provided Rs 15.2 million ( of which two million has been repaid) to SOS Manpower, Rs 1.6 million to Paradise International and Rs 1.1 million to Capital International Manpower as advance from Foreign Employment Welfare Fund on condition that they return the amounts once they get reimbursement of the expenses - specially air tickets of the workers - incurred while bringing back the workers to Nepal from the concerned employer companies in Libya. 

A meeting of FEPB has decided to put pressure on the recruiting agencies that failed to make timely repayment of the dues.

“We are serious to recover the amount dispatched as an advance to the manpower agencies who are failing to pay it back despite our repeated follow up. We will recommend the government to take action against those agencies if they are found not to have repaid the amount even if they were already reimbursed from the concerned employer firms,” said Girija Sharma, director of FEPB told Republica.

The board is also mulling to blacklist the employer companies that failed to reimburse the bills to the manpower agencies.

“Concerned manpower agencies have to be more serious to pay back their outstanding dues as soon as possible by making frequent follow up to the employers companies to reimburse the bills as the advance amount,” said Bal Bahadur Tamang, president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA).

Though a Korean employer company has already reimbursed US$281,000 (Rs 25.29 million) worth of bills to SOS Manpower, the agency only paid back two million rupees to FEPB recently.

“ Our company is committed to clear the due to the FEPB at the earliest once the Korean company send us the remaining amount out of our total claim for reimbursement,” said Som Lal Bataju, proprietor of SOS Manpower. The agency had repatriated 562 Nepali workers from Libya.

However, Rudra Mani Pradhan, proprietor of Capital International, said the agency could not clear the advance received from the FEPB as Suma Libya Company, the employer firm, is out of contact for long time despite repeated attempts to get the reimbursement of ticket fares of 25 workers who were sent back from Libya.

“We can´t return the amount to FEPB as long as the employer company doesn´t reimburse our bills,” said Pradhan.

Nabaraj KC, chairman of Paradise International also said the employer company Ramco Libya - a construction and training company based in Libya- ignored repeated calls for travel expenses borne on behalf of the returning workers. The agency had brought back 148 workers from the Libya.

“We are ready to repay the amount received from FEPB once the employer firm clears our dues,” said KC.

Published on: 4 September 2012 | Republica