Cambodian migrant workers pay RM3,400 to renew passports in KL?

PETALING JAYA: The Cambodian government is investigating claims that Cambodian migrant workers are forced to pay up to US$800 (RM3,400) to renew their passports in Malaysia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh said it will investigate the exorbitant passport fees for migrant workers in Malaysia after The Phnom Penh Post broke a story on it.
"The consular affairs department of the ministry has been instructed to investigate the issue mentioned in The Post this morning," the newspaper quoted Chum Sounry, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, as saying on Thursday.
The migrant workers said they had paid fees significantly higher than their monthly salaries through agencies, because the Cambodian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur does not renew passports.
Sounry confirmed that Cambodia does not offer such services through any of its embassies.
"The embassy says it's because they don't have the machines to do it," said Irene Xavier, coordinator of the NGO Malaysian Committee for Asian Women told the Post. "The embassy should find a way to renew the passport in the country itself so there's no need to go to agents."