KUWAIT CRACKS DOWN ON LABOR DOCUMENT FORGERS

UNCLAS KUWAIT 001013 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU TIP SUBJECT: KUWAIT CRACKS DOWN ON LABOR DOCUMENT FORGERS ¶1. (SBU) Dr. Salih Al-Shaykh, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL),confirmed in a March 19 meeting with EmbOffs news reports that the GOK has uncovered a scheme to allow companies to hire foreign workers illegally. MOSAL limits the numbers of expatriate workers that a company may hire according to the size and nature of the business. Companies that violate labor laws are also prevented from hiring more expatriates. The scheme was to issue legitimate workers a fraudulent MOSAL document allowing them to move from one sponsor to another. A corrupt official at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) would then use the forged document to register the worker under the sponsorship of a business that had either reached its limit or was prevented from hiring workers because of legal infractions. The scheme was uncovered when an employer went to MOSAL on administrative business and discovered that MOSAL had a certain worker registered under his sponsorship. He had what he believed to be legitimate MOSAL documents proving that the worker had been released from his sponsorship. As a result of his discovery, MOSAL and MOI have agreed to cooperate, by linking their computer systems among other things, to try to prevent further fraud. The corrupt official has been arrested and is being investigated, and MOI is reviewing his previous transactions to look for fraud. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: Sham companies ("sharikat wahmiyya") have emerged as a major source of TIP-related concerns. These are companies that exist only on paper. Their proprietors fake the companies' existence in order to sell work permits. The workers often take out big loans to pay these fees only to find they have no work. They are then in a very vulnerable position because they cannot afford a ticket home, and even if they could, they would have no way to pay back the money they had borrowed. Therefore, the GOK's effort to uncover and take legal measures against such operations is a key step. The local press has covered such actions, alerting the violators of labor law that they cannot act with impunity. End Comment. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LEBARON