The Star, Monday May 19, 2008

Franchise fined for hiring illegal workers

ALOR STAR: A well-known local based franchise company has been slapped with a RM600,000 compound notice for employing illegal foreign workers.

Immigration enforcement director Datuk Ishak Mohamad said the company had employed 58 illegal foreign workers at its operations centre in Selangor.

"We collected fines amounting to RM5.3mil during the first quarter of this year, of which RM2.2mil are from employers," he told a press conference Sunday at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs and quarantine Complex.

Ishak said the immigration department would continue to come down hard on employers until they stopped recruiting illegal workers.

He said the highest fine amounting to RM11.6mil was imposed on a factory last year.

He also said they would also intensify enforcement activities in estates.

"We have been quite slow in taking action in estates because of manpower problem.

"We know many are hiding and working in estates and farms. We will nab them," he said.

Ishak said during the first quarter of the year, the department nabbed 20,098 illegal workers adding that 7,564 had been prosecuted in court.

"The majority caught were Indonesians (9,297), followed by Bangladeshi (2,688), Filipinos (2,375), Myanmars (2,054), Indians (790), Thais (658) and Chinese (496)," he said.