KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur City Hall has issued 3,158 notices and 177 licence cancellations against errant and defiant business operators hiring foreigners in 2023 alone.
Its Corporate Planning Department in a statement today said from the 3,158 notices, 177 were notices for business licence cancellations.
"Of the 177 licence cancelled by the city council, 144 licence involved business premises and shops while another 33 involved hawker licence", it said.
Meanwhile, following the recent raid by enforcement agencies at Jalan Silang that saw 1,101 migrants arrested, City Hall said it had already ordered at least five businesses to shut down, after they were found to have leased the business operating licence to foreigners.
"So far five business premises along Jalan Tan Siew Sin or commonly known as Jalan Silang situated in the heart of KL have been ordered to close, while 108 premises had their goods confiscated, for employing immigrants," it said.
City Hall said apart from the confiscation and closure order, it had also issued 214 notices for other offences related to operation licences and illegal employment.
"The majority of the 214 notices issued were mostly for the offence of employing foreigners to work and allowing foreigners to operate a business premises illegally or under another person's business licence," it said, adding that they were ready to fully cooperate with other enforcement agencies to stem the influx of foreigners issue, particularly in relation to the misuse of business licences in Kuala Lumpur.
This intensified enforcement by City Hall comes after several enforcement agencies conducted a joint operation at Jalan Silang to address the issue of rising migrant colonies in several areas.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa, said a day after the raid, on Dec 22, that City Hall would revoke or suspend the licences of local business operators who are found violating City Hall's business licence regulations.
She said this included licence owners and business operators who illegally leased out their licence or business premises at Jalan Silang to foreigners or immigrants.
Dr Zaliha also suggested that City Hall conduct checks at all the business premises in Jalan Silang and Kota Raya area, to identify and act on anyone found flouting the council's business licence regulation.
She also said that she was awaiting additional information regarding the multi-agency effort and that the issue was one of City Hall's top priorities.
On Dec 21, a total of 1,138 enforcement personnel, from the General Operations Force (GOF) Central Brigade, Federal Reserve Unit, Customs Department, Immigration Department and City Hall arrested 1,101 foreign nationals for various immigration offences.
The operation was primarily aimed at curbing criminal activities around the Kota Raya area, especially involving foreign nationals, namely immigrants from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Philippines.
Yesterday Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husein told the NST that the crackdown would be intensified throughout the country, at hotspots identified as immigrant colonies.
He also revealed that the influx of foreigners has contributed to more than 10 per cent of the national crime index.
Razarudin said 2,366 immigrants had been arrested for various crimes, including murders, theft, break-ins and rape, between January to last month.
It was also reported that Selangor, Johor and Negri Sembilan are some of the states with a significant number of illegal colonies.