... The Manpower Department has opened investigation papers into allegations of slave labour practices by Kawaguchi Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, the contractor that supplies components to Japanese electronics giants Sony, Panasonic, and Daikin.

Malay Mail understands that the company’s office was raided by the Port Klang Manpower Office (PTK) on September 3 following a complaint by a migrant worker rights activist, Andy Hall, who has worked on multiple cases of foreign worker abuses in the country.

Following the raid, the department said it found evidence that Kawaguchi has not been paying over 200 of their Bangladeshi workforce since April this year. The department also found that the company had withheld the workers’ passports, which is a violation of labour laws and an indicator of forced labour practices…

The investigations into Kawaguchi Manufacturing is the latest in the series of foreign worker-exploitation cases involving Malaysian contractors and companies, several of which have been flagged for abuses that activists alleged to amount to “modern day slavery”….

…the three companies responded saying they were not aware about what’s happening at Kawaguchi.

Sony EMCS (Malaysia) subsequently responded to Malay Mail to say it was “currently looking into the matter”…