VietNamNet Bridge – Some families of Vietnamese workers in Saudi Arabi could not contact  their relatives for half of a year. It turns out that these workers are in jail while Vietnamese manpower exporting firms concealed information.
A woman from Bac Giang province, Trieu Thi Thin, said her husband, Trieu Du Long, was sent to Arab Saudi in August 2009 by the Waterway Transport Company (Intraco). Long called home several times and then lost contact.

Until September 2011, the deadline for Long’s return, Thin knew that her husband was arrested last October but she did know the reason. Thin said she asked Intraco but the company answered “they did not know.”

To go to Arab Saudi, Thin and Long borrowed around $500 from a bank to pay to Intraco. Since Long was arrested, he did not send money home to pay the debt.

A worker named Dinh Van Bac, also from Bac Giang, was arrested like Long. Bac’s brother, Dinh Van Ngoc, said his family did have any information about Bac. They only knew that Bac was arrested recently, when they went to Hanoi to see if Bac’s back. Like Thin, this family does not know why Bac was arrested and when he will return home.

A representative of Intraco said the company knew about the arrest through Long and Bac’s families didn’t. The employer in Arab Saudi did not inform Intraco about these cases.

Until now, Intraco knows that around 6-7 months after going to Arab Saudi, Long and Bac left their factories to work outside. After that they were arrested for theft.

According to Tien Phong Daily, nearly 30 Vietnamese workers in Arab Saudi were arrested. Three of them have been judged while the remaining workers are waiting for investigation results before they go to court. The arrested workers are sent to Arab Saudi by six Vietnamese firms to work as building workers.

These workers were arrested over one year ago but they are not tried and it is undefined when will they come home.

Dao Cong Hai, vice chief of the Department of Overseas Labor Management, said that the Vietnamese Embassy in Arab Saudi informed his agency about 28 Vietnamese workers who were arrested in September 2010, and are now at the Jubai prison.

According to Hai, these workers were caught in the act when they were stealing 10 tons of bronze of a local firm. “They are not beaten, supplied with food and $40/month as pocket money,” Hai said.

Hai said Vietnamese workers declared that they were paid only 800-850 SAR a month, which was not enough to cover their minimum requirements and to send home to pay debts that they borrowed to pay for their trips to Arab Saudi. Therefore, they quitted their job to work outside and stole construction materials to have money to send home.

Hai explained that Vietnamese workers are not tried yet because local police need more time to investigate the bronze stealing case since the stolen bronze volume is huge. However, investigation completed on September 19 and the case will be judged soon.

The official blamed Vietnamese manpower exporting firms for being irresponsible in managing Vietnamese workers.

The Department of Overseas Labor Management asked the six labor exporting firms to inform the families of arrested workers about the case and combine with employers to update information about arrested workers.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Department of Overseas Labor Management, on October 11, said the department would ask labor firms and the Vietnamese Embassy in Arab Saudi to hire local lawyers to defend Vietnamese workers.

Vietnam began sending workers to Arab Saudi in August 2003. Around 7,000 Vietnamese workers are now in this country, mainly working in the construction field.

TP