"Firms owe migrant workers RM2 bil over failed rehiring process, says activist", 14 February 2020

An activist yesterday lodged a police report against three companies which he claimed had received around RM2 billion in registration and legalisation fees from illegal migrant workers but failed to get them jobs under the government’s rehiring programme.

The three companies were appointed by the home ministry to conduct the rehiring scheme which ran from Feb 15, 2016 to June 30, 2018.

They are MYEG Services Bhd, Bukti Megah Sdn Bhd and International Marketing and Net (Iman) Resources Sdn Bhd.

The illegal migrant workers paid the companies between RM922.52 and RM4,513.86 for the opportunity to legally live and work in Malaysia.

... Selangor Anti-Human Trafficking Council (Mapmas) task force member Abdul Aziz Ismail said that only 110,489 of the 744,942 illegal migrant workers who registered for the programme were successfully rehired. As a result... migrant workers were being detained, arrested, prosecuted and deported because their legal status was unclear.

He urged the police to probe the three companies for failing to complete the rehiring process... The (police) investigating officer said they will refer the case to the home ministry...