Shoddy deals cost BD millions

The country lost a significant amount of money because of visa business in the name of labour migration to Brunei, insiders have said.

A section of dishonest manpower agents charged a handsome amount of money from jobseekers without confirmation of work in Brunei. So, the workers got stranded after going there.

According to the workers and sources at the Bangladesh High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan, the recruiters charged Bruneian dollar 5,000 to bring each Bangladeshi worker to the country.

About 22,000 visas were issued in the last six months of 2019. The total cost of those visas stood at Bruneian dollar 110 million or US$ 80.29 million.

But Bangladesh received $ 21.67 million remittance from Brunei during the July-December period of 2019, statistics available at the Bangladesh Bank website showed.

When contacted, sources at the High Commission in Brunei said the mission certified only 3,300 visas in the second half of 2019.

So, the recruiters sent rest of the workers to Brunei through 'body contact' in collusion with a section of dishonest officials or staffers at airports.

Thus many workers, who went to the South-east Asian country, did not get any job, and many of them returned home empty-handed, they added.

Mostikul Salehin Majnu, a jobseeker, went to Brunei in 2019. But he did not get any job, and returned home after five months.

Now he drives a rented auto-rickshaw to meet his family expenses in Sirajganj.

Talking to the FE, Majnu said he spent Tk 500,000 to go to Brunei on a free visa. The manpower agent concerned promised him to provide a job in the construction sector.

But he did not get the job, and faced immense sufferings, even he faced scarcity of food.

Most of the Bangladeshi workers go through such experiences there, he mentioned.

"I carried some Bruneian dollar from Bangladesh with me. Otherwise, I might have died due to lack of food."

When asked, Majnu said he worked as a temporary worker for one month, and got some money that he spent for airfare to return home.

Like Manju, Md Shawpon, another Bangladeshi who also went to Brunei in the same year, said he spent Tk 380,000 to go there. He arranged the total amount of money by borrowing from others. But he is yet to repay the loans.

"I came back home after seven months. I could work only for 21 days during the entire period," he added.

Mahedi Hassan Bijon, a manpower recruiter, sent him to the country, he said, and added that his life had been ruined because of the cheating.

"Like me, at least 25 Bangladeshi workers, who were in the same dormitory, were victims of false promises and cheating by the recruiting agents."

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, their condition became more vulnerable, he added.

"Now I am a rickshaw puller," he said. There is no option for him now, but to continue with such hard work, as he has a big family to maintain, he added.

However, the Bangladesh High Commission in Brunei in its letters, sent to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment on different occasions said they cancelled the applications for attestation of such fake company visas.

Mission officials noted that at least seven human traffickers, including influential ringleader Mahedi Hassan Bijon, were deported to Bangladesh after a crackdown against them by the Brunei government earlier.

Another ringleader named Shahed Mojumdar Munna fled to Malaysia to avoid deportation.

Although a good number of cases were filed by the victims against the traffickers, none of the ringleaders have so far been brought to book, according to them.

They also said about 90 per cent of the Bangladeshi workers went to Brunei on only verbal contracts. So, most of them were forced to return home, as they did not get any job there.

About 30,000 Bangladeshi workers were staying in Brunei in 2019. Many of them came back home after being cheated by dishonest manpower recruiters.

Shakirul Islam, chairman of Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP), said the country is not getting benefited from such unsuccessful migration.

It is also not helping the workers to improve their lot. Rather, they face more difficulty when they are forced to come back home.

So, the authorities concerned should strengthen monitoring of the migration system to Brunei, and bring the vicious cycles involved in the process to book immediately, he added.

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