KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) raid on IT solutions company Bestinet Sdn Bhd yesterday has again cast a spotlight on alleged syndicates monopolising the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in the country.
The raid saw several officials questioned, in a probe into the dubious selection of 25 Bangladesh recruiting agencies tasked with sending their workers here.
The reports on the raid noted that Bestinet’s founder, Datuk Seri Mohd Amin Abdul Nor, a Bangladesh national turned Malaysian citizen, was not detained, but was among several individuals questioned by the anti-graft body to establish their alleged involvement in the selection process of the agencies.
Amin, better known as Amin Bangla, was also reportedly investigated over his ties with several politicians, including cabinet members, while MACC wanted to identify the criteria used to select the 25 companies.
Bestinet’s role and how it courted controversy
Mired in controversy over the past several years, Bestinet is the sole operator of the government’s Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), which has been touted as a “holistic” management system used by the Immigration Department for visa applications for migrant workers.
According to the Malaysian Reserve in 2019, the government had given Bestinet the mandate to implement the FWCMS concept without any government investment in 2013.
Two years later, FWCMS turned into the government’s one-stop-centre for the processing of migrants entering Malaysia, eliminating impersonation, paperwork, and long processing times for worker applications, among others.
However, Bestinet has found itself ensnared in allegations of exploitation of Nepali workers in Malaysia, including claims that the firm had made a whopping US$450 million (RM1.99 billion) from processing payments to allow entry of migrants into Malaysia.
The report led to the Nepalese government banning its workers from coming to Malaysia at the time.
In June 2018, The Star ran an article highlighting the plight of over 100,000 Bangladeshi workers and victims of human trafficking who allegedly paid RM20,000 each to the syndicate involving a particular “Datuk Seri”.
The article in The Star alleged that the Datuk Seri had been in control of the Sistem Perkhidmatan Pekerja Asing (Foreign Workers Services System, or SPPA), which served as the sole system for hiring Bangladeshi workers.
Under the scheme, employers were required to pay RM305 per worker hired from Bangladesh, fees which went to Bestinet as a service charge for the distribution of the workers.
A source told the daily at the time that only 10 agencies were allowed to bring in Bangladeshi workers, while more than 1,500 other recruiters were left out of the government-to-government agreement on the matter.
In response to the allegations, Bestinet denied any involvement with smuggling syndicates, clarifying that it was not a recruitment agency or involved in recruitment processes. Bestinet also explained that not all of the RM305 fee collected per worker under the SPPA had gone to the company.
The company also refuted allegations in the Nepali Times that it was charging workers to upload scanned passport and fingerprint data, and denied that its founder and chairman, Amin, is related to former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Calls to investigate company resurface
In early June, more than 1,300 recruitment agencies in Bangladesh threatened to hold a protest against Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan over the selection of 25 firms, following the memorandum of understanding between the two countries on December 19 last year.
On June 10, Saravanan also denied allegations that Amin was part of a syndicate to supply labour from Bangladesh. This came after a photograph allegedly showing the minister and the Bestinet founder on an overseas holiday was widely circulated on social media.
The following week, Saravanan issued a statement saying the Human Resources Ministry’s accreditation of 25 companies was done to avoid monopolistic practices and to safeguard the welfare and livelihoods of the workers, adding that they were chosen from a list of 1,520 provided by Bangladesh’s Manpower Ministry.
The minister also assured that another 250 companies would be accredited to operate under the 25 companies in the recruitment ecosystem.
Meanwhile, several quarters, including opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had demanded a probe into Bestinet and another company, Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd, over their alleged involvement in the visa scheme and foreign labour supply.
Anwar’s call came after Klang MP Charles Santiago and two workers’ rights groups called for Saravanan to explain the selection of the 25 firms. – The Vibes, July 7, 2022
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