A group of former contractors for digital cable provider ABN Xcess held a small protest outside the company's headquarters today, demanding the payments due to them.

There were 10 contractors taking part in the protest, during which they carried messages calling on ABN to stop lying to them and to make their payments.

"For more than two years, there have been no payments from the company," one of the contractors, K Saravanan, said outside ABN's headquarters in Puchong today.

Saravanan claimed that in August 2014, they were promised by ABN, in black and white, that they would be paid in October the same year.

"After Deepavali (2014), the company said. Two Deepavalis have passed since then, but not a single cent has been paid to us," he said.

More than 20 contractors have been affected by this, he added.

For the past two years, the contractors have tried contacting the company for their payments, Saravanan said, but they have largely been ignored.

Malaysiakini visited ABN Xcess's office for a response and has been directed to send an e-mail inquiry instead. The portal is waiting for a ABN Xcess's response to its e-mail.

Police report also lodged

The contractors lodged a police report on this issue two months ago, he said, but were told that this is a civil matter.

They cannot afford to hire a lawyer, Saravanan said, as the money they need for this has been tied up with ABN.

The amount that ABN owes them, he said, is "not a small figure" and for him personally, it is a six-figure amount.

Fellow contractor Azrul Aziz said the amount he is owed may not reach six figures, but to him, as a young entrepreneur with a small business, it is still a big amount.

Not only that, unlike Saravanan who claimed ABN only stopped paying him towards the end of 2014, Azrul said his company has never received any payment from ABN Xcess since the beginning of their contract.

"I'm highlighting this issue because such things can kill other small business owners, especially with the economy being as bad as it is now.

"So I hope that the authorities will be concerned for us and help us in this issue, because we also want to survive," Azrul said.

Saravanan stressed that they do not want anything more than what they are owed.

All the contractors still have a copies of their invoices that they had sent to the company, he said, and whatever amount that is stated there is all they want.

If ABN continues to ignore their demands, Saravanan said, they would take this issue to the opposition MPs or maybe even hold another demonstration in front of Parliament.

They will do anything in their power to bring to this issue to light, so that they can be paid what they're owed, he said.

ABN Xcess has reportedly been facing financial issues and came into the spotlight when it secured a RM450 million loan from Bank Pembangunan Negara, which is wholly owned by the Finance Ministry.

The company shut down its news operations in March last year, and it was reported at that time that its journalists who had their services terminated had yet to receive their salaries.