VietNamNet Bridge – Social insurance agencies have reported that businesses owe VND12 trillion worth of unpaid social insurance fees so far. With such a huge sum of accounts receivable, the pension fund is in danger.

“I am afraid that I will not receive a pension once I retire,” Nguyen Trung K, an architect in Hanoi, said.

K once worked for Archipel, a well-known French-invested architecture firm in Vietnam. When the company began running into trouble in 2010 and took a loss, K and hundreds of other workers could not receive their salaries. The company also did not pay social insurance fees for them.

“I failed to contact the company for my social insurance book. The company has now dissolved. Whom should I contact to ask about this? The French director has left Vietnam,” he said.

Archipel, which has owed VND3.7 billion worth of social insurance for the last 47 months, is one of the 155 businesses in Hanoi named in the social insurance agency’s list of businesses with the biggest unpaid social insurance fees.

In principle, only when Archipel pays up the sum of money, will K and the other hundreds of workers of the company be able to get their social insurance books and submit the books to their new employers.

Tracking down businesses to collect unpaid social insurance fees has created a big headache for social insurance agencies.

“The Vinh Phuc Construction and Rural Development JSC, located just next to the insurance agency’s head office, has not paid insurance fees for the last 74 months. However, we cannot do anything to force it to pay its debts,” said Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, Director of the Vinh Phuc Social Insurance Agency.

“The company has nearly stopped its operation. The company’s office is always locked, while the director never answers our calls,” Huyen said.

In fact, the social insurance agency has taken legal proceedings against the company for the delay in paying social insurance fees. However, even the court cannot help, because the director did not turn up before the court, though he was summoned to it three times.

By the end of April, 95 businesses in Vinh Phuc Province had reportedly been more than six months in arrears with their insurance fees. These include the big debtors such as the Thang Long Tile Company (VND3.5 billion), Hop Tinh Brick Company (VND4.5 billion) and Viglacera Ba Hien (VND3.8 billion).

Under current law, agencies have the right to sue businesses in civil court if the businesses’ social insurance payments are 12 months in arrears. However, in most cases, the plaintiffs cannot get the money or can only obtain modest sums.

A senior officer of the Hanoi Social Insurance Agency noted that it is very easy to evade social insurance fees.

“If you do not pay taxes, your goods will not get customs clearance. If you do not pay bank debts, your assets will be seized. But if you do not pay your social insurance fees, you will only be inspected,” he said.

Huyen also complained that social insurance agencies have virtually no legal tools to force businesses to pay debts.

Pham Huyen