RM25mil in assets frozen in bid to weed out employers of illegals

SERDANG: The Immigration Department has frozen assets worth at least RM25mil belonging to several industrial sector employers for hiring and harbouring illegal foreign workers.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said at least three cases were linked to the seized assets.

"We have decided to go all out to enforce provisions under Section 56(1) of the Immigration Act and Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

"It allows us to freeze employers' assets if they are involved in human trafficking, hiring or protecting illegal foreign workers," he said at a press conference after presenting excellent service awards to some 800 officers at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park here on Wednesday.

Mustafar added that this was put into effect on Oct 1 last year after the Department's advice to industrial sector employers to get their foreign workers' travel documents, visas and permits in order went largely unheeded.

Mustafar also said the Department was in the midst of freezing the bank accounts of a Datuk who was recently detained in Klang for exploiting 172 workers.

"We will not go easy on those who break the law," he said.

On March 28, a 29-year-old man with a Datuk title who ran a bird's nest cultivation factory was arrested after authorities discovered that its workers were forced to work without rest days.

It was reported that the factory's business owners had broken various laws, such as forcing their employees – 152 from Indonesia, three from Myanmar and 17 Malaysians – to work 16-hour days.

The case was investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, the Immigration Act and the Employment Act.