GEORGE TOWN: The employer of 122 “stranded” Vietnamese and Nepalese workers was fined a total of RM410,000 by the state Immigration Department.

Its director Abdul Qadir Siddiq Ahmad said the employer was fined recently for illegally withholding the workers’ passports and for failing to renew their work permits.

“The Vietnamese and Nepalese Embassies along with our Labour Department also helped the workers to claim the salary owed to them.”

The plight of the 52 Vietnamese and 70 Nepalese workers was highlighted by Pulau Tikus assemblyman Koay Teng Hai on March 16.

They were hired by a sub-contractor to work as cleaners and had not been paid in months.