200 migrants still jobless a year on but cops find no cheating

A year after migrant workers were brought into Malaysia without jobs waiting for them, some 200 workers are still jobless, police said.

Despite this, the Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) said it found no evidence that the workers were cheated.

As such, CCID director Ramli Mohamed Yoosof said the department has closed investigations into police reports made by the migrant workers, who alleged they were cheated by the companies that brought them into the country.

“Preliminary investigations found no criminal fraud in this case, given that out of 600 workers involved in this group, most have been placed in employment.

“The remaining (about 200) who are not working are waiting for the promised jobs.

“The investigation has been closed,” Ramli told Malaysiakini.

The workers’ plight first hit headlines in a Malaysiakini report showing how a group of companies were awarded quotas to bring in hundreds of migrant workers, even though they submitted fake documents.

Insiders and defrauded workers allege that the quotas could either be sold to other companies or agents, while the workers who had arrived via the trafficking scheme could be sold or rented out as well.

Without jobs, some of the workers were found having barely enough to eat, prompting some charitable organisations to step in to provide provisions.

Of the workers who were eventually given employment, some said they were placed in jobs which were different from the cleaning jobs they were promised.

Alleged mastermind still under investigation

Although the CCID shelved the workers’ complaint against the companies, Ramli said the alleged mastermind behind the fraud is being investigated, following four police reports against him by parties who claimed he had cheated them in the recruitment of foreign workers.

Ramli confirmed the identity of the reported mastermind but Malaysiakini is withholding his name pending formal charges against him.

The workers, who were recruited by Puncak Jupiter Management Services Sdn Bhd and Aecor Innovation Sdn Bhd, lodged their police reports last June and October respectively.

“The complaint against Aecor is of a labour issue and we have referred it to the labour Department,” said Ramli.

A labour court case against Aecor linked to these workers is pending.

It was earlier reported the verdict was due to be delivered but was postponed at the last minute when the employer was unable to attend.

Workers detained

Other companies implicated in the expose include Star Domain Resources Sdn Bhd, QL-marketing Sdn Bhd, GTM Marketing, and Buloke Holdings Sdn Bhd (Maxim).

Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail promised to “clarify issues that had arisen recently”.

Apart from the quota fraud scandal, migrant rights organisations, lawyers and local MPs cried foul over the indiscriminate detention of 171 Bangladeshi workers whose attempt to lodge a police report against their agent landed them in detention, instead.

Human rights group Lawyers for Liberty described the detention of the migrants under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act as a mockery of the country’s justice system.

Kota Tinggi district police chief Hussin Zamora confirmed that the Bangladeshi workers walked about 10km to lodge a report against their agent. - Mkini