In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Hartalega said having commenced the process in November 2020, the reimbursement was completed within eight months on June 4, well ahead of its initial target.

“The reimbursement was made to current workers who joined the group prior to the implementation of its zero recruitment cost policy on April 1, 2019, and had previously paid recruitment fees to employment agents during the recruitment process,” it said.

Additionally, Hartalega will also reimburse its current workers who joined under the zero recruitment cost policy.

“Under the policy, Hartalega had established four checkpoints, namely, during the interview stage in the source country, before departure to Malaysia, arrival in Malaysia and three months into employment with Hartalega to ensure that workers are not required to pay any fees,” it said.

Nevertheless, the company said it was conscious of the fact that even with the robust checkpoints in place, there could still be workers that may not have reported any payments that they may have made.

“As such, the group is engaging with current workers to check on this matter.

“This is part of the group’s commitment to ensure that none of its workers pay any fees to work at Hartalega,” it said.

Reflecting its commitment to continuously enhance its social compliance practices, Hartalega said it had rolled out the next phase of the remediation programme.

This entails extending the programme to former workers of Hartalega who left the company on or after the zero recruitment cost policy was implemented, it added.