A manpower consultant agency that allegedly levied exorbitant services charges — about 100 times over what was stipulated — on nurses seeking employment under the Ministry of Health in Kuwait was raided by sleuths of the Income Tax department over the past five days.
Searches held at the Church Landing Road office of Al Zarafa Travel and Manpower Consultants since Thursday last allegedly revealed that the agency had collected about Rs 110 crore from nursing job seekers at the rate of Rs 19.5 lakh per person while the stipulated rate was just Rs 19,500, said an official. The raids would continue for a few more days, he said. The agency, which was contracted to recruit some 1,200 nurses for the Kuwait Health Ministry, had begun screening candidates in December last and officials from the Health Ministry of Kuwait attended the interview held at a hotel in Ernakulam.
“They, however, charged the steeply hiked service charge in instalments and money was collected in cash. Travel documents were sonly handed over to selected candidates after payment of the entire sum. It appears that they have so far received over 400 stamped visas for applicants who have made full payment,” said the official.
The agency did not maintain a bank account, but possessed a PAN card. “However, the last time it filed the mandatory IT return was in year 2009,” the official said. Candidates who got recruited had been asked by the agency to furnish an undertaking stating that they had not paid anything more than the stipulated rates.
A batch of students thus recruited was to embark on the trip to Kuwait on April 2, said the official.
The investigation wing of the Income Tax department, which conducted the searches, seized around Rs 4.7 crore from the agency until now, but the firm’s records suggested that they had huge amounts, he maintained.
Al Zarafa Travel and Manpower Consultants is owned by Varghese Uthup, a native of Kottayam district but settled in Dubai. He was not available for recording his statement, the officials said.
