Ishak Mohamed, enforcement director of Malaysian immigration department, yesterday told AFP that they have decided on a temporary ban suspecting that the workers are entering the country ignoring the proper system set by the government.

The Malaysian government blamed the recruiting agencies in Bangladesh for failing to send workers as of now although it was scheduled to start from August. The Malaysian government said the agencies are trying to undermine the scheme for making higher profits.

Members of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), however, said the blame should not go on them alone as the Malaysian government delayed in issuing "calling visas" while Bangladesh also delayed in attesting the job demand letters.

Neither any of the Baira leaders, nor State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare Lutfur Rahman Khan Azad could be contacted for official comments despite repeated attempts.

Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told Malaysian daily The Star on Thursday that the approval of the employers and outsourcing companies failing to "get connected" with Baira and recruit the workers by October 20 will be revoked and their levy will be refunded.

They will also not be allowed to make applications in future, the minister said.

"I have been told that agents there [in Bangladesh] are spreading negative rumours about how the government, and even I as the minister, are making cuts from this scheme," he said, denying the allegation as "totally untrue".

Expressing his disappointment over the issue, Ahmad however asked 466 prospective employers and 541 outsourcing agencies to report to Baira to start recruitment and send as many workers as possible by October 20.

Requesting anonymity, a Baira member said sending of the workers was delayed as the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia took a lot of time in attesting the job demand letters while the Bangladesh government also took time in approving those.

"Baira sent information of about 1,000 workers to Malaysia in the last ten days, but calling visas against none of those workers have reached Bangladesh as yet," he said.

Following the lifting of the ban in August, Malaysia entrusted Baira with maintaining the procedures of manpower export and setting up a computerised mechanism, including a biometric system, to prevent irregularities in the process.

The Malaysian government also had an agreement with Bangladesh that each worker has to pay $1,200 (Tk 84,000) for going to Malaysia. There are allegations against Baira that it was trying to charge extra amount from the workers.

Allegations have also been raised against some ministers, including Lutfur Rahman, for demanding a share of the extra money charged by Baira.

Lutfur and Baira President MAH Salim, however, repeatedly refuted the allegations, saying the migration cost would be as per the agreement.

Just two weeks back, a few agencies informed the government that Baira was charging extra money in the name of lobbying in Malaysia.

The Malaysian government recently suspended for two days the activities of the Baira office in Kuala Lumpur following the allegation that the Baira president had been trying to persuade the Malaysian employers into issuing job demand letters in favour of his agency.

Baira also consumed much time to take decision over the distribution system of the job demand letters. A quarter of Baira members said the demand letters approved by the Malaysian government will be equally distributed among all Baira members while others said the agencies will collect the letters as per their marketing capacity.

Migration experts said the latter system that was ultimately fixed by the Baira will increase the migration cost as the agencies will be competing for job demand letters.