FMT / 25 November, 2020
KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition MP has alleged that several high-ranking politicians were involved as middlemen who brought foreign workers into the country through special approvals.
Citing the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on the issue recently, Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) called on them to come forward and explain their involvement.
Wong named five MPs and assemblymen at a press conference at Parliament today, but FMT is withholding their names until it can get confirmation.
“I ask them to explain their involvement in the special application for foreign workers. They did not submit applications to just hire a foreign maid. We could still accept that, but this is not the case. This is to bring in tens, hundreds of foreigners,” he said.
Wong said the middlemen in the recruitment of foreign workers had written letters to the home affairs minister for special approvals to “circumvent existing regulations”.
He said they made up 55% or 512,315 of the total of 928,825 approvals, compared with 416,510 applications that were approved through the normal system, between 2016 and 2018.
He urged those involved in the auditor-general’s findings on the intake of foreign workers in the “2018 Series 1” report to name the middlemen, adding that the five could just be the “tip of the iceberg”.
Yesterday, PAC had revealed several weaknesses in the government’s management of foreign workers, following its investigation into the findings of the auditor-general’s report.
Its chairman, Wong Kah Woh, said in addition to the existence of middlemen, the report had highlighted the granting of too many special approvals to circumvent existing regulations, and the entry of foreign workers who had failed their medical examinations.
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