Only 91 workers were sent to Malaysia on October 23 though Kuala Lumpur issued about 400 calling visas (final entry document) and about 30,000 job demand letters for hiring workers from Bangladesh.

The stagnation began as the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry in a letter to the commerce ministry on October 22 asked it to suspend the executive committee of Baira, accusing it of overcharging aspirant migrant workers and renting an office in Kuala Lumpur without government permission.

The expatriates welfare ministry recommended appointment of an administrator for smooth continuation of overseas employment as long as the Baira committee remains suspended.

The ministry also sent a letter to the prime minister the same day seeking permission to form a high-powered committee headed by a joint secretary of the home ministry and with representatives of the expatriates ministry, foreign ministry, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and Baira to investigate how Baira rented an office in Kuala Lumpur and overcharged aspirant migrant workers.

It suggested giving the proposed committee a time limit of 30 days for submitting its report.

Both the letters said the ministry has both intelligence reports and media reports that Baira has been overcharging workers applying for migration to Malaysia. It also rented an office in Kuala Lumpur without government permission.

Though the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) instantly (on October 22) approved formation of the probe committee and it was formed, it failed to hold any meeting until yesterday.

The commerce ministry also did not appoint any administrator, Baira sources said.

"The Malaysian authorities are now waiting for the government's next step. If the probe committee delays submission of its report, and an administrator is not appointed soon, stagnation in manpower export to Malaysia will continue," said a Baira member who mainly deals with this issue.

Malaysia also wants transparency in the migration process but Bangladesh will count losses if it delays the process, he said seeking anonymity.

Following withdrawal of the ban on hiring workers from Bangladesh after a decade, Malaysia entrusted Baira with managing the migration issue and asked it to open an office in Kuala Lumpur.

Baira President MAH Salim then opened an office with 10 per cent share held by Baira and the rest by three Malaysians. He also took no approval for this from the Baira executive committee nor held any general meeting of the organisation.

There are allegations that Baira charged at least Ringgit 18,000 or Tk 36,000 more than the fixed rate, raising the migration cost to Tk 1.2 lakh to Tk 2 lakh. Some ministers in the immediate past government also allegedly demanded a share of the extra money.