Three major Japanese electronic companies have pledged to investigate a Malaysian-based supplier accused of forced-labour practices that include withholding passports and wages spanning months.

Kawaguchi Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, a Klang-based Japanese company that supplies plastic components for Panasonic, Sony and Daikin, is now the subject of a probe by the Malaysian Labour Department after its workers lodged complaints that they have not been paid since April this year.

Most of Kawaguchi’s workers are Bangladeshis.

The companies pledged to conduct a thorough audit, and if necessary recommend “corrective actions”. Sony, Panasonic and Daikin said in separate individual statements that any unfair treatment of workers contravene their respective supply chain ethics and code of conduct.

“We have an existing business relationship with Kawaguchi Manufacturing. We are investigating this issue and will continue to do so in more detail,” Panasonic Holdings Corporation said in a statement issued to Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), an influential agency that monitors human rights violations among multinational companies...

Sony’s senior general manager overseeing the company’s sustainability practice, Mitsu Shippee, said: “Sony is committed to uphold the internationally recognised human rights of all people”....

Meanwhile Daikin’s human rights promotion office said it is “contemplating the remedies and measures to be taken for the workers”...

[Kawaguchi president George] Wang reportedly claimed that the delay in salary payments was unavoidable due to a surge in orders from its two main clients, Panasonic and Daikin.