South Korean Embassy cheats staff

For the past 16 years, the South Korean Embassy operating in Ghana has refused to pay Social Security contributions for its workers.

Even meetings the Social Security & National Insurance Trust had with officials of the Mission since May, 2006 to resolve the embarrassing issue has not yielded any good results, according to the Dispatch newspaper.

Investigations by Daily Dispatch have revealed that at a meeting on May 5, 2006, the inability of the South Korean Embassy to comply with Ghana's Social Security Laws was due to a misconception that establishments operating similar in-house schemes for their employees were not obliged to contribute to the SSNIT scheme.

At another meeting on June 29, 2006, it was realised that the Embassy was not operating any In-House Compensation/Provident Fund Scheme for the local staff as previously alleged, rather, a form of gratuity was paid to staff on disengagement irrespective of age but based on the number of years' service at the Embassy.

The said in a rather bizarre twist of events, the Embassy claimed that the old salary documents had been destroyed. They rather asked SSNIT to furnish them (the Embassy) with three years salary information. The Embassy officials said they would get back to their Home government for consultations.

By a letter of September 14, 2006, the Embassy was able to provide information on the local staff at the Embassy, however, the Embassy has been stalling up to date.

A source at the Foreign Ministry explained that if the matter was brought to their attention, they would investigate.