DEPUTY Home Minister Aziz Jamman said the government is verifying information related to allegations that a company purportedly linked to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was involved in an elaborate immigration scam that made millions out of Nepalese migrants applying to work in Malaysia.

Aziz said that until a police report is lodged, authorities are unable to take definitive action, but he has instructed his officers to begin verifying the accuracy of the allegations carried in the Nepalese Times two days ago.

“Actually, a police report hasn’t even been made. I only got this information from social media,” Aziz told The Malaysian Insight today.

“So as a deputy minister, I cannot jump to conclusions. That’s why I say, if there’s a police report made in this case, we will investigate definitely.

“As of now, I have communicated to my officers at the ministry, I want to verify these information first,” said Aziz.

On Sunday, the Nepali newspaper claimed that Malaysian company Bestinet Sdn Bhd was among several private companies involved in a scam which took more than Rs5 billion (RM185 million) from Nepali workers over the last five years.

The article claimed that the companies involved were linked to or backed by powerful Malaysian politicians.

It also alleged that Zahid’s brother, Abdul Hakim Hamidi, and former home minister Azmi Khalid owned shares in the company, which profited from the government’s revised immigration policies which forced foreign workers to apply for their permits and obtain their medical checks from approved agencies.

Aziz told The Malaysian Insight that his officers would need to conduct a thorough check into the validity of all the claims before they take the next step.

“I have to check first, I have to verify. As you know, on social media, there are many issues of fake news, so we want to avoid jumping to conclusion.

“If all information is verified to be true, I will definitely instruct the IGP (Mohamad Fuzi Harun) to investigate,” he said.

Earlier today, Bestinet issued a statement denying its involvement and links to former deputy prime minister Zahid and the scam.

“Bestinet is committed to conducting its business in a responsible manner and does not engage in unethical business practice,” it said.

The company claimed that “no one in Bestinet is related to Zahid”, and said all allegations that Bestinet has been charging migrant worker for scanning passports, fingerprinting and uploading the data online “are entirely false”.

The company said it is seeking an apology and retraction of the article by The Nepali Times. – July 24, 2018.