More than 12,440 enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City owed social insurance, employment insurance and health insurance premiums totaling over 2.7 trillion VND (118.2 million USD) as of June 2018, making up 4.2 percent of the annual collection plan.

The information was revealed by Director of the HCM City Social Security Phan Van Men at a conference in the city on June 19 to review the implementation of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies in the first six months of 2018.

He said 2,440 businesses failed to pay the insurance premiums worth 523 billion VND in over six months while nearly 10,000 others owed social insurance insurance fees from two to six months.

He added that 387 billion VND (16.9 million USD)out of the total debt amount could not be retrieved, coming from 1,570 dissolved and bankrupt businesses.

In the first half of 2018, the city’s Social Security conducted inspections over 737 units.

The violations in the collection and payment of social, health and unemployment insurance remain common, affecting the total revenue of the insurance fund and the interests of employees, he said.

He cited the case of Nam Phuong Co., Ltd - a garment-textile company invested by the Republic of Korea – in Cu Chi district as owing social insurance premiums for four months with the total amount of 27.8 billion VND.

The city’s Social Security has asked the public security department to make investigation and launch criminal proceedings according to law against the company, he added.

The agency aims to reduce the owed payment ratio to below 3.7 percent and increase the number of compulsory social insurance card holders to 2.46 million at the end of this year. -VNA