More than 1,600 companies falsified documents to claim wage subsidies, says minister



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M Saravanan says the ministry also heard complaints about employers who received subsidies but did not pay their workers.

JOHOR BAHRU: A total of 1,663 companies were found to have falsified documents by the Malaysian Enterprise Commission (SSM) when submitting applications under the wage subsidy program, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said today.

He said the forgeries were detected when companies applied for wage subsidies totaling RM31 million for 14,800 workers.

He added that his ministry also received complaints that 89 employers who received wage subsidies totaling RM670,000 had not yet paid their workers.

“They (those who had forged documents) will be blacklisted and we are now investigating employers so that we can take legal action,” he said after officiating the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) initiative under the package of Penjana economic stimulus in Johor today.

The wage subsidy program was introduced under the Prihatin economic stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last March.

In other developments, Saravanan said his ministry estimated that unemployment would decline from 4.7% in July to 4.5% by the end of the year.

“This can be seen through HRDF, which has already received 9,000 applications to date. The approval process will be done in stages, ”he said.

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