"3 agencies suspended, RM72mil reimbursed to 'cheated' workers, says GLC,"

A government-linked company (GLC), which has been accused of violating regulations in the intake of foreign workers, says it has acted against errant recruitment agencies and reimbursed RM72.2 million to workers who were “cheated”.

FGV Holdings Bhd said it was looking into the allegations by activist Andy Hall that the company used unauthorised agents who made workers pay recruitment fees, thus violating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Malaysia and the source countries...

“Through our enhanced due diligence mechanism, three agencies were suspended for failing to comply with our ethical recruitment requirements.

“In line with its commitment, the company will reimburse any worker found to have paid recruitment fees. To date, FGV has spent a total of RM72.2 million for reimbursement,” its group chief executive officer Nazrul Mansor said in an email reply to FMT...

In his official complaint to the human resources ministry and FGV, Hall had alleged that the GLC had engaged the services of a few recruitment agencies not on the government’s officially sanctioned list...

Nazrul said the recruitment agents retained by FGV were assessed for responsible and ethical recruitment practices, adding that workers were also interviewed on their recruitment experiences...