A Malaysian company accused of violating labour laws in a high-profile case involving over 700 Bangladeshi workers will likely face court soon.
“10 files have been opened after we received complaints that the workers have not been paid and from the ten the DPP has ordered a follow-up on six of them,” said an official of Malaysia's Department of Labour, reports Malay Mail.
“The files pertain to [the firm’s] failure to comply with the department director-general’s directive that the workers be paid in backdated salaries from the date they were supposed to start work. Right now we need the chief complainants to come forward and have their statement recorded,” he added.
The company is not named as it is yet pending a charge in the court.
Over 730 workers, in groups of 10, filed complaints with the Johor Department of Labour after their recruiters failed to deliver the jobs they had paid to get earlier this year, which forced the firm’s executives to negotiate for a settlement.
One of the two resolutions achieved at the February mediation was a payment of over RM1 million in backdated salaries, to be paid latest by March this year.
The four other cases are still being reviewed by the Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers, but sources from both the country's Human Resources Ministry (Kesuma) and Labour Department said they are confident that they too would end up with prosecution.
“It may take a bit of time but it will likely come,” a ministry source said.
The Malaysian Human Resources Ministry is expected to issue a statement on the matter soon.
When contacted, an executive at the accused company refused to confirm or deny the allegations.
Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Steven Sim in February had touted the mediation outcome between the 733 Bangladeshi workers and the accused company as a “landmark case” that is meant to send a strong signal to industries that have profited from the foreign worker recruitment system.
He said the proceeding would set a precedent in other labour-related cases because it involves migrant workers who are brought in here through legal means but are not given jobs once they arrive.
Several Malaysian companies have faced export bans from Western countries because their products are made from suspected forced labour and the Malaysian government is sometimes criticised for its poor effort to combat human trafficking.
