KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)'s investigation into recruitment of migrant workers has widened to include senior officials and heads of agencies under the Human Resources Ministry.
Apart from detaining an aide to minister V. Sivakumar and a contractor, MACC has also called in a senior ministry official for questioning.
The aide and the contractor were picked up at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport upon arriving from Bangkok at 1am on April 12.
“This morning, the ministry’s office was raided, with staff questioned and documents seized,” said an MACC source.
The MACC source added that the authority has cast its net wide to investigate the current and previous administration of the ministry.
“Large amounts of money and luxury goods and apparel were understood to have changed hands in exchange for large contracts and approvals to bring in foreign workers,” said the source.
It is understood that the head of at least one agency under the ministry is expected to be called in for questioning in the next few days.
The current unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had in January announced new measures to make the migrant worker recruitment exercise more transparent and humane.
Malaysia features negatively in global human rights indices for the mistreatment of migrant workers, where the Bangladeshi migrant worker business alone is valued at RM7 billion a year.
These workers are often exploited, working long hours in unsafe and unhygienic conditions for as little as RM1,500 a month – of which 50% in the first two years is used to pay agents. – The Vibes, April 13, 2023
