Labour Court verdict on workers in quota fraud scandal deferred

The much-awaited trip to the Labour Department in Bangi for the judgement on claims of unpaid wages turned out to be futile for migrant workers caught in a quota scandal that was exposed by Malaysiakini last month.

Having applied for annual leave from their new employer, four former Aecor Innovation Sdn Bhd workers, representing a batch of 97 workers believed to have been trafficked into the country, were turned away at the Labour Department because the employer could not be present.

“The proceedings have been postponed because Ng Yeen Seen (employer) could not be present today but we were not informed that her absenteeism would stall the judgement.

“We are very disappointed and now we have to tell our family members because they too are looking forward to receiving some money,” said one distressed worker, whose repeated postponements to send money home have caused frustration.

The workers' claims varied in amounts ranging from RM4,800 to RM7,200 each and today's judgment could have conferred this award.

A Labour Department officer told Malaysiakini that according to their standard operating procedure, the employer should be given an equal opportunity to represent themselves at the Labour Court but can be absent with good reason.

However, the Labour Department was only informed today that the employer was abroad and would not be able to attend the meeting, leaving no time to inform the workers the proceedings were cancelled.

The workers who are now part of a multinational shipping company Maersk, spoke to Malaysiakini anonymously.

They said their new employer understood the importance of attending the Labour Department proceedings today to claim their unpaid wages.

Now the workers are left to appeal to the goodwill of their new employers to attend the rescheduled judgement, which has been postponed to January.

‘Conflict of interest’

Aecor Innovation workers have been arriving in batches since January, recruited into the controversial cleaning services sector, which the government has acknowledged to have an oversupply of 120,000 workers.

Last month, Malaysiakini’s exposé uncovered how fake contracts purported to be worth millions of ringgit with non-existent companies, were used to get quotas to import more than 1,000 workers.

In one syndicate uncovered by Malaysiakini, a group of six companies obtained quotas to recruit a total of 1,625 migrant workers for the services sector in 2022.

Aecor Innovation was among the six companies which the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) was investigating in connection to an individual arrested over allegations that he was part of a migrant worker recruitment scam.

The Home Ministry and Human Resources Ministry both manage migrant worker recruitment through an inscrutable process that was also red-flagged in the Auditor-General’s Report 2022, last month.

Scandal needs to be investigated

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has chosen not to comment on the scandal, but the Human Resources Minister, V Sivakumar stated that his ministry would conduct a full investigation into trafficking allegations and unscrupulous employers who had misused the migrant quota.

However, the Human Resources Minister’s pledge to investigate his ministry has been met with vehement objections, with some arguing there is a conflict of interest.

With indications that government officers were complicit in the fraud, stakeholders including Suhakam, have called for an independent probe resembling a high-level task force involving only top officials to investigate the scandal. - Mkini