KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 12): MyEG Services Bhd has been alleged to have been illegally collecting fees for its foreign worker permit renewal services, despite suspension by the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
Kota Melaka member of Parliament (MP) Khoo Poay Tiong claimed at the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday that MyEG’s services contract with the Immigration Department had been suspended since February this year, but the company is still accepting fees for the services via its website.
“For example, if a factory has 10 workers, and they went online to pay RM2,000 per person — they had paid MyEG RM20,000.
“After that, they waited and when the permits didn’t arrive, they went to the Immigration Department, which informed them that MyEG had been temporarily suspended and that their employer had to pay another RM20,000 to renew his employees’ permits,” Khoo said.
“They already paid RM20,000 to MyEG, but MyEG doesn’t refund them, asking them to first show proof that they have paid and renewed their permits with the Immigration Department,” he added.
The Edge has reached out to MyEG for comment.
The e-services provider had been in the spotlight in February, after it was reported that the Home Ministry will replace the 13-year-old Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs) with the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) by 2025.
My EG’s previous immigration services concession was scheduled to end on May 22 this year.
After a period of turbulence, MyEG said in July that it had received a notification letter from the Ministry of Finance, which agreed to an extension.
At the time, MyEG said the terms of the extension “will be finalised pursuant to further discussion with the government in due course”.
An agreement to formalise the extension “will be signed at a later stage”, it said then, but there has been no update since.
Meanwhile, Khoo further claimed that MyEG is still issuing invoices bearing the Immigration Department’s logo to those who paid fees for foreign worker permit renewals.
“Is this how MyEG carries itself, a company listed on [Bursa Malaysia]. I hope that the Immigration Department and police take action, as this is already a criminal offence. [MyEG] is not allowed to collect from the public, but they still collect [from them]. This is a big crime,” Khoo said.
“I hope that action will be swiftly taken; otherwise, employers and the rakyat (people) will blame the government for allowing MyEG to provide the services,” he added.
Khoo dubbed this as a kecacatan (defect) in the government’s achievement of having 81.3% of its services accessible end-to-end, online in 2022.
Shares in MyEG has rebounded from its February low of 60.5 sen, when concerns over non-renewal of its contract came up. The counter closed one sen or 1.27% higher at 79.5 sen on Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM5.87 billion.
[The Edge Malaysia, 12 September 2023]