A mother who has been battling since November to have her daughter returned from Malaysia – where she has allegedly been beaten and tortured while working as a maid – yesterday said her daughter’s employer, Champa Manpower Company, had agreed to terminate her two-year contract and pay for her flight home.

Chea Si Yan, 58, said her daughter, Sanh Makara, 31, from Pursat, had been taken to the Cambodian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and would be returned home as “soon as possible”.

“Now she is at the embassy for questioning,” she said. “The embassy wants her and the employment agency to meet face to face in the embassy to find justice and to prevent this from happening to another maid,” she said.

The concerned mother travelled from Pursat to Phnom Penh last Friday to file a complaint with the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking department. However, Champa Manpower had called and asked her not to file the complaint, she said.

“The company promised that it would let my daughter return home as soon as possible by giving her a plane ticket and terminating her contract.” Chea Si Yan filed a complaint with ADHOC in November, which called for intervention to help her daughter who was being fed sub-standard meals and being locked inside her employer’s house.

Her complaint also voiced concerns for the safety of her 30-year-old goddaughter, Moa Chamroune, who was working in Malaysia with the same company, but could not be contacted.

Sanh Makara had called her mother to complain that Champa Manpower’s partner agency in Malaysia had beaten her because they were unhappy with her performance, Chea Si Yan said last Tuesday.

“Her last employer ordered her to cook a cake, but she did not understand – she is not good at English – so the employer was angry with her and sent her back to the agency. The agency then beat her until she needed to be taken to hospital.”

Sanh Makara was now helping officials at the Cambodia Embassy in Malaysia to investigate her abuse claims, Chea Si Yan said.

Lim Mony, deputy head of the women’s section at ADHOC, said she was satisfied that Sanh Makara was safe.

“Now that she is at the Cambodian Embassy, officials will help her find justice against the person who mistreated her,” she said.

Chea Si Yan remained concerned for Moa Chamroune, who still could not be contacted, she said.

Chive Phally, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking department, said the department would investigate the case.