Construction site manager goes missing, allegedly with RM400,000 meant for salaries and suppliers

KUALA LUMPUR: A construction site manager has gone missing with a six-figure sum meant to pay suppliers and workers' back pay.

At a press conference organised by MCA public services and complaints department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, a group of workers, supervisors and suppliers told the media that their problems started last year.

"We were working on an upscale condominium in the Mont Kiara area, and our February pay did not come in.

"This continued and the manager then disappeared. We know he had been paid by the project's main contractor, but we have not seen the money," said a supervisor who only wanted to be known as Nick on Wednesday (April 14).

He added that the project had been taken over by another contractor after work started in 2019, and everything was going smoothly until the start of the first movement control order in March 2020.

"We had to borrow money to pay our staff. Foreign workers who worked overtime round-the-clock did not receive their salaries.

"Collectively, the (missing) manager owes all of us around RM400,000," said Nick, who added that the project has since been abandoned.

Chong said he spoke with the manager last month, and was told that a solution will be found.

"But until now, nothing. He has also disappeared, and it seems like he has blocked our numbers," he said.

Police reports were lodged by the group this month (April), with Chong adding that he had assigned a lawyer to oversee the case.