The Malaysian Trade Unions Congress (MTUC) wants employers who default on Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions to be charged for criminal breach of trust and has asked 100 workers to lodge reports at police stations nationwide.

Normally, such complaints would be filed with the EPF which then launches its own investigations before deciding to prosecute the defaulters.

But since current EPF procedures are obviously not working and the number of reports of such defaults is alarming the police must investigate the matter as a criminal breach of trust, MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran said today when contacted by malaysiakini .

He said the 100 workers from around the country have been advised to report their cases under Sections 405 and 406 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust. They are among the several hundreds of employees from about 60 companies who have approached MTUC for help during the past six months.

We want the police to investigate and charge all guilty employers under the Penal Code.

By withholding money deducted from employees salaries and failing to remit to the EPF, employers are committing CBT, he said, adding the EPF should also be more aggressive in nailing errant employers.

On Feb 14, a CBT report was lodged by a retired civil servant, Kermehom @ Karumegamachary, in Kuala Lumpur for non-remittance of EPF contributions by his employer, Traceland Properties Sdn Bhd, amounting to RM4,136 for 1998 and 1999.

The company is not registered with the EPF as an employer.

Challenge it as a crime

It is the first time an EPF-related matter is being challenged specifically as a crime and not as an offence, his lawyer A Sivanesan had said.

Section 406 provides for a mandatory jail term of between one and 10 years, whipping and a fine.

Rajasekaran said experience showed that EPFs approach was ineffective and additional steps are necessary to address such a serious and perennial problem.

Last week, he revealed, employees of a well-established real estate firm based in Kuala Lumpur lodged a complaint that their EPF contributions have not been remitted for more than two years.

We have transmitted these reports to the EPFs CEO (Azlan Mohd Zainol) seeking urgent action to recover the contributions, said Rajasekaran.

On the recent closure of Len Omnibus Co in Selangor, Rajasekaran said the workers were left in a lurch because the company owed RM1.4 million in EPF contributions.

Some 120 bus drivers, conductors, ticket inspectors, mechanics and administrative staff of Len Omnibus have lodged several reports with the EPF, police, and the industrial relations department over the past five years but nothing had resulted.

It is most likely the workers involved will not recover even a portion of the money owed to them, added Rajasekaran.

The 65-year-old bus company, one of the main providers of public bus services in Selangor, ceased its public bus services since early February.