Commune leaders accused of tricking people into exporting labor
Directly consulting and receiving large sums of money from many people with the commitment that within 8 months they would be able to go to Korea under E7 visa, however, Mr. Ho Minh Thong later broke his promise.
Although he did not keep his commitment, for the past 3 years, Mr. Thong has been procrastinating in returning the money that the workers transferred to him.
In trouble because of the scam of exporting labor
Many people in Thuan Yen hamlet, Hoan Long commune, Tan Ky district have just submitted a petition to request the responsibility of commune officials and to request the refund of the money that people paid to go to work abroad, but were unsuccessful. Thuan Yen is a hamlet that used to belong to Nghia Hoan commune, which has just been merged with Tan Long commune and renamed Hoan Long commune.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang (32 years old), in Thuan Yen hamlet, said that around the beginning of 2022, her family learned that Mr. Ho Minh Thong (at that time was Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Nghia Hoan commune, now Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoan Long commune), was a broker.labor exportto Korea for many people in the area. “Around April 2022, after sending 6 workers to Korea, Mr. Thong also organized a big party at home, inviting many guests to promote his image. In the following days, Mr. Thong often invited my husband to eat and drink because he knew my husband wanted to go to Korea to work,” Ms. Trang said.
According to Ms. Trang, Mr. Thong advised her husband to apply for the E7 visa program to work in Korea at a company with an office in Thai Hoa town. Mr. Thong also brought the contract to her family's house to sign.
“According to Mr. Thong’s advice, to participate in the E7 Program, in addition to the amount of 15,000 USD, the family must prepare an additional 1,000 USD to process the application to be eligible to participate. The total amount to be paid if you want to successfully go to Korea to work is 16,000 USD. Workers only need to pay the money, they don’t even need to learn Korean,” Ms. Trang said, adding that on May 17, 2022 and June 18, 2022, her family transferred 9,000 USD to Mr. Thong’s account and transferred 1,000 USD to an account named NGUYEN THI HUE, where Mr. Thong requested the amount of 1,000 USD with the reason of “processing the application”.
Not only Trang’s husband, at the same time, there were 6 other families who also transferred money to Mr. Thong to be able to go to South Korea to work. The total amount that each worker paid in advance was 10,000 USD.
“My son was working at a garment company at that time. When he saw Mr. Thong advising him to go to Korea, he quit his job and mortgaged his red book to borrow money to pay for him. But after waiting for a long time, he still didn’t hear any news, so he had to sit at home for the past 3 years.”
Mrs. Ho Thi Loan in Thuan Yen hamlet - one of the petitioners
According to Ms. Loan, after the 8-month deadline as Mr. Thong committed but still no news, she and 6 other families called many times but Mr. Thong answered evasively. Sometimes he said the company was being inspected, sometimes he said he was busy. In mid-January 2023, after many times people called to question, Mr. Thong invited 7 families to meet and admitted that the company could not send workers to work in Korea as agreed and asked for more time for the company to resolve the issue.
By early April 2023, Mr. Thong and the company representative asked to pay the families 100 million VND in advance, and the remaining amount would be deferred for 1 year to pay both principal and interest. However, by the deadline, the company and Mr. Thong still did not fully refund the amount that the people had paid.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang said that up to this point, after nearly 3 years and dozens of times of asking for money, she and Ms. Loan, due to "determination to file a petition", have received 9,000 USD from the company, and the remaining 1,000 USD has been transferred to the account designated by Mr. Thong, the company and Mr. Thong deny responsibility. As for the other 5 workers, each case still has 75 million VND that has not been recovered.
Illegal labor
According to the reporter's investigation, Mr. Thong had previously received documents through this company to send 6 workers to work in Korea under the E7 visa. However, just a few months after working in Korea, 2 workers from Hoan Long commune were arrested and deported back to their country because of fake E7 documents and certificates. The remaining 4 people saw this and managed to escape to live as illegal workers.
“As ordinary people, we trusted the commune leaders. When we received a notice to pay the money, we followed Mr. Ho Minh Thong's instructions. He instructed us to transfer the money to someone and to which account, and we did so. Later, we learned that the person who advised us did not have a degree or consulting experience. The company did not have the authority or license to send workers to participate in the E7 visa program.”
Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang (32 years old, in Thuan Yen hamlet)
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Ho Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoan Long commune admitted that he received money from 7 workers to send them abroad for labor export under E7 visa through a company in Thai Hoa town.
According to Mr. Thong, since 2022, the old Nghia Hoan commune has worked with this company to sign a cooperation agreement on career counseling and enrollment in study abroad and labor export programs.
“Because I often connect the commune and the company, I am more familiar with the company. Subjectively or objectively, we just want to promote economic development for the people, not to take advantage or defraud and appropriate property.”
Mr. Ho Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of Hoan Long Commune People's Committee
Mr. Thong said he also did not know the reason why the company had agreed and received the money but then could not send the workers to Korea. Regarding the question that this company did not have the authority or license to send workers to Korea under the E7 visa, Mr. Thong said he did not know clearly. "Previously, the commune signed a cooperation contract with the company. It must have been guaranteed before signing," Mr. Thong said, adding that he was not seeking personal gain and had recently urged the company to return the money to the workers that he had received from them and then submitted to the company. As for the amount of 1,000 USD that the workers reported had been transferred to an account named NGUYEN THI HUE at his request, Mr. Thong said, "he was not involved so he was not responsible for returning it."
The leader of the labor export company said that for the two cases of Ms. Trang and Ms. Loan's families, the company had recently fully refunded the 9,000 USD that the company had received from Mr. Thong. Regarding the remaining 1,000 USD, he said that the company was not involved. The director of this company also refused to answer when asked why he had received the money and agreed but then could not send the workers to work in Korea, and the other 5 workers had only received 7,000 USD that the company had refunded.
Mr. Nguyen Van Sam - Chairman of Hoan Long Commune People's Committee said that after receiving the petition from the people, the Commune People's Reception Council invited 2 families with petitions and Mr. Ho Minh Thong to resolve the matter. Here, Mr. Thong admitted that he had received money from 7 families to send them to work abroad under E7 visa but was unsuccessful. Up to now, he has not fully refunded the amount of money that the people paid.
Regarding the $1,000 that Mr. Thong denied being involved in, Mr. Nguyen Van Sam said that he had asked Mr. Thong as well as the families to provide additional records, documents, evidence, and analysis and clarification..
At the meeting, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang and Ms. Ho Thi Loan confirmed that Mr. Ho Minh Thong had provided Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue's account number and instructed her family to transfer money to the above account number. Ms. Trang provided the Commune People's Committee with 3 pictures and an 11-second video (In the video, on the table, there is a folder with the account number Nguyen Thi Hue clearly written on the outside.), 2 text messages exchanged with Mr. Ho Minh Thong about money transfer (but did not specify in the message who it was for and did not mention transferring $1,000.). Mr. Thong still asserted that this content was not true and said that he himself had never advised or asked Ms. Trang and Ms. Loan's family to deposit 1,000 USD into Nguyen Thi Hue's account, nor directly received that amount to deposit on their behalf to process the application.
“The two sides have not yet agreed on the contents such as recommendations, reflections, and unclear, unspecific, difficult-to-verify supporting documents, which are beyond the authority of the Commune People's Committee to resolve. The Commune People's Committee will synthesize and report to the Chairman of the District People's Committee for research and consideration, requesting competent authorities to resolve in accordance with the provisions of law; at the same time, requesting the two sides to continue to have other supporting documents to supplement."
Mr. Nguyen Van Sam - Chairman of Hoan Long Commune People's Committee
Mr. Phan Van Giap - Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee said that the district also received the information after the people filed a petition.
"Currently, we are waiting for a report from the People's Committee of Hoan Long commune because the authority to resolve the petition is the commune. After receiving the report, we will direct the relevant authorities to clarify," said Mr. Giap.
