THE Anti-Corruption Commission has filed six cases against 10 people, including chairs, managing directors and directors, of six recruiting agencies on charges of the embezzlement of Tk 5.25 billion through a syndicate that overcharged migrant workers headed for Malaysia. The commission on November 6 said that the agencies had charged about five times the amount of Tk 78,999 that the government had earlier set for labour migration to Malaysia. This also violates the conditions for the registration of the recruiting agencies. Officials say that the agencies collected the money illegally and were involved in the transfer, conversion and syphoning of the money. This has caused financial losses of a large scale to the migrant workers. The number of workers thus fleeced in the case at hand is 31,331. The commission also filed 13 cases on September 14 against 31 people from 13 recruiting agencies on charges of the embezzlement of Tk 11.69 billion and 12 cases on March 11 against 32 people from 12 recruiting agencies on charges of the embezzlement of Tk 11.28 billion, all for labour migration to Malaysia.
All this evidently explains why Bangladesh鈥檚 access to the labour market in Malaysia has had such a tumultuous ride. Human resource export to Malaysia has also run into problems on several occasions because of the high cost attributed to corruption, irregularities and the syndication of recruiting agencies. Malaysia suspended migration from Bangladesh in September 2018 because of irregularities and reopened the market to Bangladesh after three years and a half in August 2022 under a syndicated agreement. Since then until February 2024, a little less than half a million Bangladeshis could go to Malaysia, which remained the second preferred destination for migrant workers after Saudi Arabia in 2023. Labour migration to Malaysia ran into trouble after January 2024, centring on Malaysia鈥檚 suspension of the issuance of electronic visas and the number of workers to Malaysia for jobs started to come down. The syndication of recruiting agencies had almost always been blamed for problems, but hardly any deterrent action was taken. And, because of the high migration cost, many unskilled workers are reported to be trying to reach destination countries illegally and many are reported to be trying to reach a third country from the destination countries which has been a reason for the closure of the overseas job market for Bangladeshis in many countries. High migration cost, often unchecked, has remained the main barrier to ethical and safe migration.
The Anti-Corruption Commission or the government should, in such a situation, widen the investigation to bring in all errant recruiting agencies that have charged, or still charge, prospective migrant workers more than the set amount and push up the cost of labour migration. The authorities should investigate recruiting agencies that send migrant workers to other destinations.
