Raid on office draws blank
THE Labour Department has raided a Causeway Bay employment agency which offered Indonesian maids for wages of $2,000 a month.
Officers inspected the Anlida agency the day after the Sunday Morning Post revealed it was offering a stable of domestic helpers at almost half the legal minimum rate.
'We sent people down to the employment agency on Monday afternoon, but we couldn't find anything there,' Labour Department spokesman Richard Law Chi-ming said.
'We will closely monitor the developments.' Just three days previously, Anlida boss Aaron Chan showed the Post bundles of resumes from women in the Javanese district of Surabaya.
He provided photocopied data and photographs of three candidates and, for a $15,000 commission, agreed to supply a $2,000-a-month maid who would accept two days off a month.
Mr Chan, phoned after the Post exposed his cheap labour files and told of his office drawer packed with Indonesian passports, denied running the scheme.
'Our maids earn at least $3,860.
'Some even charge over $4,000 because they have to take extensive training before coming to Hong Kong,' Mr Chan said.
'We charge $3,000 commission for a Filipina, and up to $5,000 for an Indonesian,' he said.
The cost of hiring Indonesians 'in their backward country' was higher, which explained the higher commission charged, Mr Chan said.
He denied keeping the maids' passports in his office and was 'grossly dissatisfied with the reports'.
'I have no comment,' he said.
Confronted by the reporter who, posing as an employer, was given resumes for $2,000-a-month maids and shown their passports, Mr Chan quickly hung up.
'I don't want to speak to you.
'I can speak English but I don't want to speak to you,' he said, in Cantonese.
