Press Digest - Immigration dept cracks the whip, assets of those hiring illegal workers to be frozen

PETALING JAYA: The Immigration Department is walking the talk: it has taken action against more than 15 employers for hiring illegal workers and is set to freeze their assets and bank accounts.
Its director-general, Datuk Mustafar Ali, said based on initial estimates, three of them have assets totalling more than RM26 million.
The department is consulting its legal advisers on the next course of action to be taken, he told Sin Chew Daily in an interview published today.
The employers concerned, who are from various sectors including construction, entertainment, manufacturing and service, were hauled up for harbouring or hiring more than five illegal workers, he said.
He urged other errant employers to "legalise" their illegal workers to avoid immigration action as the department is conducting operations daily.
Noting that, unlike before when employers found guilty in courts of hiring and harbouring illegal foreign workers were fined as well as ordered to be whipped, judges lately had spare them the rotan, he hoped that the courts would impose the maximum sentence against these errant bosses.
"It is a good thing for courts to impose a heavy sentence, as it will help resolve the problem of harbouring or trafficking of illegal workers," he said.
The Immigration Department has, since Oct 1, started enforcing the laws that allow it to freeze the assets and bank accounts of employers found employing and harbouring illegal foreign workers.
He disclosed that from Jan 1 to Dec 26 this year, the department has hauled up 1,174 employers for illegal activities including hiring and harbouring illegal foreign workers, allowing them to use their premises as well as help them to evade arrest by immigration officials.