Kochi: Nurses who have paid lakhs of rupees to the city-based Al Zarafa recruiting agency for jobs in government hospitals in Kuwait are running from pillar to post to get their documents back.
The candidates reached Kuwait after making payments but the agency is yet to return their documents like academic and marriage certificates kept as security.
Only a few low-grade employees are present at its office here and they keep asking them to come later as they were not authorised to deal with the documents.
“They say it would take six months for processing files before I can join duty. I’ve given my marriage certificate as security. My wife is already working as a nurse in a private hospital here and we require the certificate for living together,” said Biju George, one of the 1,200 nurses it recruited. “I’ve paid the fees but when we ask for documents, they don’t give a proper response”.
His relative was forced to visit the Kochi office many times and finally a staff member told him that it was sent to Delhi.
“Apart from the fees, they demanded money every now and then on behalf of Uthup (owner of the agency) to bribe Kuwaiti officials to expedite paper works,” they said.
The CBI probing the scam says the travel agency had illegally collected Rs 19.5 lakh from each of the 1,200 candidates while they were entitled to charge only Rs 19, 500.
