Unauthorised foreign currency transactions pose a serious legal risk to their stakeholders, security forces warned the Sri Lankan migrant workers’ community, following many cases recently uncovered.
Foreign remittances being made by Sri Lankan migrant workers through intermediaries in the adaptation of the ‘undial system’ aka the underground banking system have now come under the microscope of the Sri Lankan security forces and it has been revealed that most of these unknown parties are directly linked to drug dealers.
Accordingly, the security forces warn migrant workers against such transactions raising awareness on the legal risk in the process.
Parties involved in foreign remittances via the controversial undial system have been subject to unnecessary legal issues mainly due to the fact that the security forces are paying close attention to the manner in which such transactions are being made, according to government intelligence sources.
Recently, Sri Lankan migrant workers in Kuwait told ‘The Leader’ the manner in which foreign remittances from Kuwait are being stolen by intermediaries, stating the following;
“Kuwait nationals have to pay close to 2,500 dinars for a woman coming from Sri Lanka for domestic work. These monies used to be credited to Sri Lankan accounts in millions and a large amount of dollars was credited to the country. But now all these monies are going to the state of Dubai through undial. Remittances to Sri Lanka are credited to the accounts from within Sri Lanka along with the extra money. Due to this, a large amount of dollars belonging to is transferred to the State of Dubai through intermediaries.”
They pointed out that such a loss may be prevented had the Minister of Labour imposed a law through the Embassy, mainly due to the fact that all agreements must be forwarded to the Embassy for approval of the two-year agreement of all these migrant women. Accordingly, a law should be enacted to send the money paid by the employers to a Sri Lankan account via a money exchange, after which the Embassy can be sought with the receipt, they emphasised.
The Sri Lankan migrant workers’ comment with ‘The Leader’ comes in as a solution to the forex crisis which is devastating the island nation at the moment.
MIAP
