KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 14): MyEG Services Bhd has been urged to reimburse employers who used its services for renewing foreign worker permits.

Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka Khoo Poay Tiong accused MyEG of removing the application link from its website earlier on Thursday. He emphasised that MyEG had no right to collect money from employers in the first place since its service contract with the Immigration Department had been suspended since February.

"Why has it taken the company so long to refund the money to employers? Some employers have still not received their refunds as of today," he stated during a press conference outside the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

During debate on the Mid-Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP MTR) two days ago, Khoo alleged that MyEG's contract with the Immigration Department had been suspended, yet the company continued to accept fees for the services through its website.

As at the time of writing on Thursday, neither the government nor MyEG had announced the extension of the company's contract for processing foreign worker permits.

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.

MyEG did not say whether those who paid it had been facing delays in getting the work permits issued by the Immigration Department.

"For example, if a factory has 10 workers, and they (the employer) went online to pay RM2,000 per person, they had paid MyEG RM20,000. Subsequently, when the permits did not arrive, they approached the Immigration Department, which informed them that MyEG had been temporarily suspended. Consequently, the employer had to pay another RM20,000 to renew the employees' permits," Khoo explained.

However, MyEG clarified in a bourse filing on Wednesday that there had been no misrepresentation on its online platform, as it continued to provide services in accordance with the government of Malaysia's terms and conditions.

Khoo, meanwhile, maintained that his statement was supported by written evidence, including emails and text messages.

He also called on the government to take this issue seriously, as it could impede the government's efforts to fully digitise the public sector, as outlined in the 12MP MTR.

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