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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Rs. 10m job racket From the News Desk Police have commenced investigations into a large number of complaints from youth in the Kalutara district of a massive fraud of over Rs.10 million where the youth have been reportedly cheated of jobs to Italy and Korea by a close confidante of the former Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, investigators told the 'Sunday Observer". According to police sources the suspect, a former Pradeshiya Sabha member has reportedly vanished from the country prior to the April general election. Former Labour Minister Samarasinghe promised 1000 jobs for Sri Lankans in Italy and another 10,000 in Korea during his tenure in office. Labour Ministry sources said that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment which was put in charge of the two projects did not possess a single record of a person sent to these countries for jobs under the project. Instead, they have received complaints that even those who had paid Rs. 7,500 for training to secure jobs in Italy have been played out after they had followed the training course. Sources said that the Bureau had incurred a massive loss due to advertisements in the print media with messages and photographs of Minister Samarasinghe. According to police complaints, the victims have mortgaged their land and other properties to pay a minimum of Rs. 100,000 to the PS member who worked closely with the minister on these employment 'projects'. Meanwhile, the Bureau sources said that certain files and documents pertaining to these two projects have gone missing before Labour Minister, Athauda Seneviratne took office. The previous People's Alliance government had left a bank balance of Rs. 156 million in the Bureau account in year 2000 under the stewardship of the then Minister of Labour Athauda Seneviratne. This sum had been reduced to Rs. 26 million under the two year administration of Minister Samarasinghe, Bureau sources said. The Ministry has launched a full probe into the funds of the Bureau on the directions of Labour Minister Seneviratne. |
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