Owner of recruitment firm blames current operators

A day after around 80 nurses came out against Kochi-based firm ‘George International’ for duping them of lakhs of rupees,

KOCHI: A day after around 80 nurses came out against Kochi-based firm ‘George International’ for duping them of lakhs of rupees, the owner of the overseas recruitment agency claimed on Tuesday that she was not responsible for the fraud, as the licence of the firm had been leased out to another party. As per the allegation, the firm had taken money from the nurses after promising them jobs in Sharjah, Kuwait and Canada.

Lissy George, the owner of George International, said her agency had no hand in cheating the nurses. 
“My husband ran the agency. I am a licence holder, but ever since his death, neither I, nor my son has had any involvement in its operations,” said Lissy. She said all the operations were carried out by three persons —  Anish Jose, Adarsh Jose and George T George — and alleged that all the financial irregularities were committed by them. 

Lissy George
Lissy George

“Our agency has been in this field for 30 years now. We had been successfully recruiting nurses for hospitals across the globe. However, after my husband’s death, the operations were taken over by Anish and the others,” she said. She said the agency had contracted these three persons earlier to facilitate interviews and manage visa formalities of the candidates. “We had no idea they were taking money from them by using the agency as a front,” she said. Claiming it was only recently that she came to know about the irregularities, Lissy said, “We have filed a complaint against the trio after coming to know about the irregularities they had committed,” she said.

Licence-holder is responsible: Nurses

The nurses have expressed dissatisfaction with the owner’s explanation. “How can they wash their hands of the issue by claiming they had leased out the licence to someone else? That in itself is illegal,” said Elizuba Jacob, a candidate who was duped of `3 lakh. She said their lawyers have said the owners were not allowed to hand over the licence to anyone.

“Even if they do so, the licence holder is still responsible for the irregularities committed by the persons they set up the contract with,” she said. “Earlier, just around 80 nurses had complained of being duped. But now the number has increased to around 200,” she said.Biju Ipe, the husband of another candidate Bindu Biju, said six members from his family had applied at the agency.

“We spent a total of `9 lakh. We had our doubts regarding job openings for diploma nurses in West Asia. But despite asking multiple times, they assured us that there was no such issue,” he added.Meanwhile, a mediation meeting for an out-of-the-court settlement has been called on January 24 at 2pm.

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