TOP Glove Corp Bhd has engaged the same consultant previously engaged by another glove company, WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, to resolve the issue of a detention order imposed by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) against its subsidiaries.

In a briefing with the media and analysts today, Top Glove managing director Lee Kim Meow said that the detention order had come to the group’s attention only this morning.

“We have called the same consultant that advised WRP and got them out of a detention order recently,” he said.

Lee added that a plan has already been set into motion to lift the world’s largest glove producer from the US authority’s list as soon as possible.

The US recently slapped Top Glove with a detention order, which is usually issued to prevent the importation of goods suspected of having been produced by forced labour.

The US CBP website showed Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd, both subsidiaries of Top Glove Corp Bhd, on its list of companies whose products are barred.

The CBP did not explain why the two companies – which account for 12.5% of the group’s total sales – are on the list.

The US had in October last year blocked the import of gloves made by another Malaysian manufacturer, WRP Asia Pacific, alleging that the company had engaged in forced labour practices.

Lee said Top Glove is confident that the matter can be resolved in two weeks to a month, given its experience with the consultant.

“We have already conducted some interviews with workers, so what we have done will be helpful to guide (the consultant).”

The group’s US unit will also engage CBP to get more details on the order.

Top Glove believes that the move has to do with the reimbursement of agent’s fees to workers prior to the implementation of its “zero recruitment fee” policy on January 1.

The company’s human resource department is working towards reimbursing employees soon, with the amount estimated at between RM20 million and RM50 million.

Lee said the figure is a small percentage – likely a low single digit – of the profits made during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The goods now parked in the free trade zone will be shipped to other countries or back to Malaysia if they are denied entry to the US, said group executive chairman Lim Wee Chai.

He said the group’s order-book volume is at more than 100%, and this will keep it busy for between 12 and 15 months.

He added that activists, not workers, were the ones to take up the case. – July 16, 2020.