Home ›› 18 Jul 2022 ›› Front
The Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) has started an inquiry into Catharsis International and its owner Md Ruhul Amin Shawpon over creating a syndicate to control manpower export to Malaysia.
Last week, BCC had summoned Shawpon or his representatives to attend a hearing before the inquiry team on Sunday.
The summons was issued based on two reports published in May, one in The Business Post and the other in Daily Samakal, on the alleged collusion that resulted in a monopoly through the selection of only 25 agencies that would send workers to Malaysia.
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On Sunday, two of his representatives attended the hearing conducted by inquiry team member and BCC Assistant Director Md Nazmul Hossen at the commission’s office in Dhaka. The hearing started around 11:30am and ended around 1:30pm.
After the hearing, Shawpon’s representatives left the BCC office in a hurry and declined to respond to queries from journalists waiting outside.
Talking to The Business Post over the phone, Nazmul said Shawpon’s company has submitted an application seeking one month before the next hearing.
The head of the two-member inquiry team — BCC Senior Assistant Secretary Minara Nazmin — will decide what will happen to their plea, he added.
However, the team is set to hold the next hearing tomorrow and Catharsis was informed about that earlier, Minara told The Business Post.
A former leader of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) claimed Shawpon was trying to delay the investigation by any means. “That’s why he has sought a month. He should not be granted this time for the sake of our workers.”
Minara was absent from Sunday’s hearing. She said she was suffering from a high fever when reached for comment.
Faulty MoU led to syndicate
The foundation stone of syndication in sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia is rooted in the controversial and one-sided memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two nations in December last year.
This faulty MoU is now benefiting a powerful 25-agency syndicate, which is trampling the rights of workers and depriving more than 1,500 other licenced recruiters by creating a monopoly after effectively securing cooperation from the Malaysian human resources ministry.
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Eighteen of these 25 agencies have already bagged permission from the government to send over 800 workers to Malaysia.
Under the “Responsibilities of the Government of Malaysia” section in the MoU, Clause (V) reads, “The Government of Malaysia shall select BRA [Bangladeshi recruiting agencies] automatically through the online system from the list provided by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.”
According to the Bangladesh Competition Act, it is mandatory to allow all legal and qualified recruiting agencies to work in the sector.
However, the selection of these 25 agencies by the Malaysian government has left other recruiting agencies angry as many of these exist only on paper.
Why ministry not facing the inquiry?
On January 14 this year, Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan wrote a letter to his Bangladeshi counterpart, Imran Ahmed, saying they have selected 25 agencies through automation.
On January 18, Imran wrote back, saying that selection of a limited number of agencies was against Bangladesh’s Competition Act and the ILO charter.
Several months later, Saravanan came to Dhaka and attended a joint working group meeting. At the time, he told reporters that the mechanism for hiring workers from Bangladesh will come into effect after approval from the Malaysian cabinet.
“Usually, the receiving country decides about the agencies. We will do this according to the decision of our cabinet,” he added.
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However, Malaysia is also recruiting workers from 13 other countries. But it did not set any conditions similar to the Bangladesh one for them.
Sector insiders said that the main problem is the MoU, which is not a legally binding document.
“The MoU is the main problem. The Malaysian government has been allowed to select Bangladeshi recruiting agencies. This should not have happened,” said a former BAIRA leader.
“The inquiry team should look into our Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry and find out who is behind the faulty MoU and the creation of the 25-agency syndicate,” he said.
The selection of such a limited number of agencies goes against the Competition Act. BCC has the authority to direct the ministry to change the clause in the MoU, he added.
Who gave Shawpon the authority?
Shawpon recently told reporters that Simplex International and another agency applied manually (after individually inking deals with Malaysian recruiting companies) and secured the attestation (from concerned Malaysian departments and the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur).
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“But they will not get the final approval from the overseas employment ministry here since they are not among the automatically selected agencies.
“Because of this, there is zero chance that these agencies will get the clearance for visas of the workers they wanted to send,” said Shawpon, allegedly the mastermind behind the Malaysian labour market syndicate.
Reacting to his remarks, a former BAIRA secretary general told The Business Post, “Shawpon does not have the authority to say something like this. Only the government can say who will send workers abroad and who won’t.
“The government is yet to make any final announcements regarding these issues. But Shawpon’s remarks prove that he is involved in the syndicate.”
