KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — Three major Japanese electronic companies have pledged to investigate a Malaysian-based supplier accused of forced-labour practices that include withholding passports and wages spanning months.

Kawaguchi Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, a Klang-based Japanese company that supplies plastic components for Panasonic, Sony and Daikin, is now the subject of a probe by the Malaysian Labour Department after its workers lodged complaints that they have not been paid since April this year.

Most of Kawaguchi’s workers are Bangladeshis.

The companies pledged to conduct a thorough audit, and if necessary recommend "corrective actions”. Sony, Panasonic and Daikin said in separate individual statements that any unfair treatment of workers contravene their respective supply chain ethics and code of conduct.

"We have an existing business relationship with Kawaguchi Manufacturing. We are investigating this issue and will continue to do so in more detail,” Panasonic Holdings Corporation said in a statement issued to Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), an influential agency that monitors human rights violations among multinational companies.

"Based on this, we will consider taking necessary measures in alignment with relevant authorities in Malaysia and other stakeholders, including requesting Kawaguchi Manufacturing to take corrective actions safeguarding the interests of the impacted workers.”

Sony’s senior general manager overseeing the company’s sustainability practice, Mitsu Shippee, said: "Sony is committed to uphold the internationally recognised human rights of all people”.

"With regards to our supply chain, as a member of the Responsible Business Alliance, we work collaboratively with governments, industries, and other stakeholders to thoroughly review the situation and find appropriate solutions....we will conduct a thorough fact-checking investigation,” the company said.

Meanwhile Daikin’s human rights promotion office said it is "contemplating the remedies and measures to be taken for the workers”.

"Moreover we will make the best effort to investigate the root cause of this issue i.e. why this incident occurred. Finally, the Daikin Group must recognise that our CSR were not effective enough in this case our group’s supply chain,” said Tomutsu Namiki, who oversees the company’s human rights department.

The investigations into Kawaguchi Manufacturing is the latest in the series of foreign worker-exploitation cases involving Malaysian contractors and companies, several of which have been flagged for abuses that activists alleged to amount to "modern day slavery”.

Some of these companies have been slapped with export bans while Malaysia has had its rating downgraded to the lowest tiers by the US Department’s anti-human trafficking report.

The Port Klang Labour Office conducted a raid on Kawaguchi’s plant on September 3 following a complaint by an activist who works closely with migrant workers, and they said they found evidence that the company had not been paying its staff up to five months worth of salaries.

On September 9, after the issue gained public attention, Kawaguchi president George Wang held a press conference where he pledged to pay 200 foreign and 40 local workers their salaries by year-end.

Wang reportedly claimed that the delay in salary payments was unavoidable due to a surge in orders from its two main clients, Panasonic and Daikin.