The plantation company said this is in line with its effort to meet requirements under the withhold release order (WRO) issued by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“FGV has given top priority to implement a remediation plan to uphold labour rights and address any gap in its labour practices,” the company said in a media statement issued today.

It said the remediation programme involves the reimbursement of fees imposed by third-party recruitment agencies.

The first reimbursements were made in three tranches paid out in March, June and September last year.

It added that 19,673 migrant workers have already received a total of RM72.2 million as of today.

FGV said LRQA, a global assurance partner with a dedicated sustainability consulting department, had conducted a verification exercise from Oct 30 to Nov 24.

It said all the workers who have been paid have already been interviewed by LRQA.

The company said reimbursements for former migrant workers will be carried out until the end of 2024.

To date, 415 former workers have already been paid a total of RM1.77 million.

It is currently reaching out to the remaining former workers.

FGV group CEO Nazrul Mansor said the company has made “every effort” to ensure that its recruitment procedures are aligned with ethical recruitment standards.