KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): Zetrix AI Bhd (KL:ZETRIX), formerly known as MyEG Services Bhd, on Tuesday confirmed it is no longer involved in foreign worker permit renewal services.
“The term of the foreign worker permit renewal services of which the extension was announced by the company in July 2023 has ended,” Zetrix AI said in a filing following a query from Bursa Malaysia on The Edge’s report about the non-extension.
This is the first time the company publicly acknowledges the end of the contract. Nevertheless, Zetrix AI did not specify when the contract ended in the filing on Tuesday.
The Edge reported on Monday that Zetrix AI’s contract with the government had ended, citing a Public Accounts Committee findings released on the same day. The effective date of non-renewal was also not mentioned in the bipartisan report.
Zetrix AI noted that the services now fall under the scope of the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) and the company is working together with the system’s main contractor, HeiTech Padu Bhd (KL:HTPADU).
“The company has an ongoing collaboration with HeiTech Padu, which was awarded the project to implement NIISe, under a teaming agreement,” it said.
HeiTech Padu, in which Zetrix AI owns a 19.19% stake in the company, had in October last year bagged the RM892.2 million NIISe project. Shortly after, Zetrix AI and HeiTech Padu formed a partnership to collaborate on current and future e-government projects in Malaysia, in which either party is involved.
The parliamentary report revealed that the government had decided to end Zetrix AI’s contract for foreign worker permit renewal services following the finalisation of a six-year deal with Bestinet Sdn Bhd for the use of the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System.
Zetrix AI has just been publicly reprimanded, with seven of its directors fined RM150,000 each over misleading announcements and non-compliance with a regulatory directive. However, the company plans to contest the reprimand through a judicial review.
Its initial three-year concession for immigration-related services was extended for two years on Oct 16, 2023. The initial three-year concession was due to expire in May 2023 before the two-year extension.
On July 7, 2023, the company announced that it had received a letter from the Home Ministry confirming approval from the Ministry of Finance to continue as the government's agent for collecting fees and providing online services for the Immigration Department.
However, Bursa said the announcement was false and misleading because the letter did not support these claims in its public reprimand of Zetrix AI and its directors.
Not only did the company not correct the alleged mistake, it kept repeating the claims in announcements on Sept 13 and 14, Bursa noted, even as news reports raised concerns about the company illegally charging fees for worker permits despite its contract being suspended.
Bursa noted that there was no approval for the company to continue collecting government revenue from May 23, 2023 to Jan 31, 2024 and the company only secured a new tender for online foreign worker permit renewal services effective February 2024.