Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday granted three months more time to inter-ministerial committee to submit the probe report on the oligopoly of 10 recruiting agencies in the export of manpower to Malaysia.
The committee, which was formed as per HC order, has been directed to submit its report by November 14, or face contempt of court charges.
The High Court bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order while hearing the writ petition in this regard.
Barrister Rashna Imam, a lawyer for the writ petitioners, told that the government had formed the nine-member probe committee including representatives from the ACC on February 10 this year to investigate the irregularities and corruption done by the 10 recruitment agencies.
The court yesterday also framed terms of reference for the probe committee, including, among others, investigation into the following five matters whether any recruiting agency other than the 10
recruiting agencies sent workers to Malaysia during the period of operation from March 10, 2017 to December 27, 2018 and whether the workers sent to Malaysia during operation from March 10, 2017 to December 27, 2018, actually paid around Tk four lakh each or any amount other than the much lower government prescribed service charge of Tk 37,500 subsequently revised to Tk 1,60,000 (for construction/factory workers) and Tk 1,40,000 (for farmers).
The High Court on October 29, last year directed the government to form an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the monopoly of 10 recruiting agencies and submit the probe report in six months.
The court passed the order and issued a rule following a writ petition filed by 10 recruitment agencies, which contested the arbitrary selection of the syndicate of 10 agencies that the petitioners claimed to have deprived over a thousand competent government-approved agencies of their fundamental right to run a lawful trade guaranteed under article 40 of the constitution.
The syndicate of 10 recruiting agencies was formed after Bangladesh and Malaysia had signed a recruitment deal — G-to-G Plus — in early 2016. It created a total monopoly to send workers to Malaysia.
As per the recruitment deal, the recruitment cost was Tk 37,500 for a person, but was later revised to Tk 160,000 on June 14 last year. However, actual recruitment cost eventually went up to around Tk 400,000.
Under the G-to-G Plus deal, 2,85000 Bangladeshis had gone to Malaysia since early 2017.
However, Malaysia had suspended the labour recruitment from Bangladesh since September 1 last year following allegations of charging high recruitment fees by the syndicate and exploitation of migrant workers.
The high migration costs decreased migration of workers, resulting in dropping of remittance to the country, the petition said.
The syndicate of 10 agents accused of monopoly is: Noor Ali of Unique Eastern Pvt Ltd, Ruhul Amin of Catharsis International, Ghulam Mustafa of Prantik Travels & Tourism Ltd, Mohammed Bashir of Rabbi International, ZainalAbedinZafar of Al Islam Overseas, Ruhul Amin of Amin Tours & Travels, ASM Khairul Amin of Career Overseas Consultants Ltd, TuhinSiddiquueOme of ISMT Human Resources Development Ltd, ArifAlam of Passage Associates and Shaikh Abdullah of Shanjari International.
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday granted three months more time to inter-ministerial committee to submit the probe report on the oligopoly of 10 recruiting agencies in the export of manpower to Malaysia.
The committee, which was formed as per HC order, has been directed to submit its report by November 14, or face contempt of court charges.
The High Court bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order while hearing the writ petition in this regard.
Barrister Rashna Imam, a lawyer for the writ petitioners, told that the government had formed the nine-member probe committee including representatives from the ACC on February 10 this year to investigate the irregularities and corruption done by the 10 recruitment agencies.
The court yesterday also framed terms of reference for the probe committee, including, among others, investigation into the following five matters whether any recruiting agency other than the 10
recruiting agencies sent workers to Malaysia during the period of operation from March 10, 2017 to December 27, 2018 and whether the workers sent to Malaysia during operation from March 10, 2017 to December 27, 2018, actually paid around Tk four lakh each or any amount other than the much lower government prescribed service charge of Tk 37,500 subsequently revised to Tk 1,60,000 (for construction/factory workers) and Tk 1,40,000 (for farmers).
The High Court on October 29, last year directed the government to form an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the monopoly of 10 recruiting agencies and submit the probe report in six months.
The court passed the order and issued a rule following a writ petition filed by 10 recruitment agencies, which contested the arbitrary selection of the syndicate of 10 agencies that the petitioners claimed to have deprived over a thousand competent government-approved agencies of their fundamental right to run a lawful trade guaranteed under article 40 of the constitution.
The syndicate of 10 recruiting agencies was formed after Bangladesh and Malaysia had signed a recruitment deal — G-to-G Plus — in early 2016. It created a total monopoly to send workers to Malaysia.
As per the recruitment deal, the recruitment cost was Tk 37,500 for a person, but was later revised to Tk 160,000 on June 14 last year. However, actual recruitment cost eventually went up to around Tk 400,000.
Under the G-to-G Plus deal, 2,85000 Bangladeshis had gone to Malaysia since early 2017.
However, Malaysia had suspended the labour recruitment from Bangladesh since September 1 last year following allegations of charging high recruitment fees by the syndicate and exploitation of migrant workers.
The high migration costs decreased migration of workers, resulting in dropping of remittance to the country, the petition said.
The syndicate of 10 agents accused of monopoly is: Noor Ali of Unique Eastern Pvt Ltd, Ruhul Amin of Catharsis International, Ghulam Mustafa of Prantik Travels & Tourism Ltd, Mohammed Bashir of Rabbi International, ZainalAbedinZafar of Al Islam Overseas, Ruhul Amin of Amin Tours & Travels, ASM Khairul Amin of Career Overseas Consultants Ltd, TuhinSiddiquueOme of ISMT Human Resources Development Ltd, ArifAlam of Passage Associates and Shaikh Abdullah of Shanjari International.
