Ninety Indonesian illegal migrant workers have accused a sub-contractor hired by construction company MK Land Holdings Bhd of not paying their wages amounting to RM150,000.

The workers have sent a letter to the company's executive chairperson Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar urging him to investigate the matter.

The workers had been allegedly involved in the company's Medan Prestasi project in Damansara Damai, Kuala Lumpur.

In the letter signed by one 'Lukman' and a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini , the Indonesians claimed they had been working 'illegally' with the subcontractor - Mega Jaya (M) Sdn Bhd - with the permission of MK Land Holdings.

The workers said they were also allowed to stay in makeshift homes at the site since last December.

The workers said they decided to return to their homeland when the Malaysian government extended the amnesty period for illegal immigrants.

"When the Malaysian government declared the amnesty, we wanted to go back home. But our employer held back our salaries and is finding excuses not to pay us," they added in the letter.

They said the company claimed that their work was 'not up to mark' and hence their salaries cannot be paid.

"But the employer never produced any documents to state their dissatisfaction with the quality of our work," he said, adding that the company should have stopped work if they had problems with the quality.

According to the letter, the main contractor of the project is Plato Construction (M) Sdn Bhd. The workers claimed that this company is fully owned by MK Land Holdings

They also accused Plato Construction of conspiring with Sri Mega Jaya to 'cheat' them.

As the result, the workers said they are broke and stranded here. They also expressed fears of being arrested once the amnesty period ends.

They also claimed that Sri Mega Jaya is hoping that the workers will be detained since the company would not have to pay them.

Baseless allegations

Meanwhile, MK Land Holdings denied that it has employed any illegal immigrants.

"MK Land Holdings Bhd (MK Land) is primarily an investment holding company with subsidiaries in property development. In its property development projects, generally, the actual construction is contracted out to various Malaysian contractors to undertake the construction.

"MK Land has a policy for the whole group in force for many years that all contractors engaged by MK Land must only engage foreign labour in accordance to the laws and regulations of the country," said its corporate communications general manager Mohd Roslan Ali in a statement today.

"As our policy prohibits engaging illegal foreign workers, provisions are made in all our contract documents specifying that no illegal workers are to be hired by the contractors," he added.

He said the company does not directly employ construction workers and thus "the issue of non-payment of salaries does not arise."

"We further wish to state that there are no long overdue payments to our contractors," he added.

Contacted later, Mohd Roslan refused to confirm if Plato Construction is owned by the company.

"I don't want to speak any further than what I have said in the statement at this moment," he said.

Meanwhile, the site manager of the project Jasvinder Singh when contacted said he has quit the job and declined to comment on the matter.