Kathmandu, May 11:

Moonlight Overseas (MO), during the entire process of advertising and conducting interviews for foreign employment in Korea, has not followed the directions of the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion (DLEP).

This was informed by DLEP at a press meet organised in the capital today.

Udhav Prasad Banskota, director general at DLEP said that MO has not allocated the 10 per cent quota reservation mandated by the government. It has also discarded the supreme court order to give priority to those who have been selected earlier. Further, it has not used the lottery system to select people for the foreign employment. “In response to the inquiry by DLEP relating to violation of the department’s direction, MO has answered that quota reservation and priority to the people selected earlier could not be followed because of conditions laid down by the South Korean Federation of Small and Medium Business (SKFSMB),” he said.

“We are more concerned that the opportunity of sending 695 trainee workers to Korea is not missed. As investigation is underway and MO has been directed not to carry on its selection procedure,” Banskota said.

Since it would take time for the investigation to complete and the date to send workers is approaching near, we have requested the ministry to discuss the matter with SKFSMB and extend the last date of May 24 for sending workers, he added.

Banskota also informed that the demand for workers have come directly as a result of efforts by MO which has been licensed to send workers to Korea.

We are also working for Employment Permit System (EPS) to replace the existing system of sending trainee workers. A Korean team is likely to visit Nepal to discuss the issue, he said.

Answering reporters’ queries, Banskota said that with no report filed against any manpower companies, it has been difficult to monitor whether anybody is charging more than what has been recommended by the government.

The maximum amount that any manpower company can charge is Rs 204,000.

However, it is well known that manpower agencies are taking much more than the amount from job aspirants.