CIAA arrests 35 more govt officials

 The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Friday arrested 35 government officials for allegedly sending 77 migrant workers to Qatar through illegal means last month.

The CIAA arrested 17 staffers from the Department of Foreign Employment and 18 from the Department of Immigration. Six officials, including the director of the DoFE, Ramesh Mainali, were arrested on Wednesday for abusing office.

Sources said DoFE officials had given the final nod to the 77 workers to head for Qatar from three manpower companies—Sanaa International, Progressive Placement and Advance Recruitment. According to the anti-graft body, 34 of the workers have already left for their destinations, while the remaining are on the waiting list.

CIAA officials said three original files having records of the migrant workers have ‘mysteriously disappeared.’ The anti-graft body is investigating the matter on the basis of photocopies of the illegal work permits. Friday’s arrest was made with a view to tracing the original files and finding out who all were involved in the matter.

The CIAA has rounded up all officials at the final work approval division and the labour desk run by the DoFE at the Tribhuvan International Airport. Sources close to the CIAA said high-ranking officials from the Department of Immigration and Nepal Police at the TIA are under tight scrutiny, as, according to them, sending the 34 workers abroad without their involvement would have been impossible. Following the arrests, the DoFE, which is considered one of the busiest public offices, has gone almost empty, affecting day-to-day activities there. This fact has stalled work related to hundreds of workers, mostly awaiting the final approval. Around 1,500 migrant workers visit the Department every day. DoFE officials said they are working to fill the vacuum created by the arrests.

The department has already assigned six officials led by Under Secretary Pradip Subedi to the final approval division. It has also assigned eight officials under Section Officers Riddhi Sitaula and Lava Raj Joshi to the TIA labour desk. “We hope things will get back to normal from Sunday,” DoFE spokesperson Divash Acharya said.

The department also held a meeting with representatives of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) later in the day. Although officials did not say why they actually met, sources said senior department officials asked the agencies to ‘cooperate’ in retrieving the three missing files.

NAFEA Chairman Bal Bahadur Tamang said a more transparent system is urgently needed to curb such irregularities. “It is surprising to know that such important files have gone missing from such an important institution. The government must start processing the files online,” he said.