The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to file five cases against 26 individuals from five recruiting agencies on charges of embezzling and laundering Tk314 crore.
Charging five times more money than the government-fixed fees for sending workers to Malaysia.
ACC’s Director General Akhter Hossain disclosed the development at a briefing on Thursday.
He said the agencies charged five times more than the government-approved fee of Tk78,990 per worker from a total of 18,767 workers.
According to the new cases, the accused misappropriated and laundered Tk314.34 crore in total.
Malaysia had suspended the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh in 2018 due to irregularities. Later, after a new agreement was signed between the two countries on 19 December 2021, the process resumed.
At that time, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment set the maximum migration cost at Tk78,540 per worker.
However, allegations surfaced that several recruiting agencies violated the terms and charged up to five times higher from Malaysia-bound workers.
ACC has decided to file a case against six people including the chairman of GMG Trading Pvt Ltd for charged an additional Tk47.40 crore from 2,830 workers while a case will be filed against seven individuals including the chairman and directors of GMG Trading Associates for charging Tk54.25 crore extra from 3,239 workers.
QK Quick Express Ltd took Tk71.60 crore extra from 2,275 workers. The managing director, chairman, and five others will face a case, according to ACC.
MEF Global Bangladesh charged Tk76.48 crore from 4,566 workers. A case will be filed against three individuals including the managing director and chairman.
Another MEF Global Bangladesh case involves Tk64.60 crore taken from 3,857 workers, with charges against the same managing director, chairman, and one more official.
On 11 November, the ACC filed cases against five officials of four recruiting agencies. Similarly, on 6 November, cases were filed against 11 individuals from six agencies, and on 14 September, against executives from 13 recruiting agencies – all on the same charges.
