A REPORT must first be lodged before any action is taken over the alleged foreign workers’ scam that has implicated a firm linked to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman. 

“Someone needs to lodge a report first, only then can I instruct the police to investigate,” said Azis, adding the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission would likely want to probe the case as well. 

“If reports are lodged with the police or MACC, I’m sure the investigations will be carried out accordingly,” he added. 

The Nepali Times had reported on Friday that Bestinet Sdn Bhd, a company allegedly run by Zahid’s brother-in-law, Amin Abdul Nor, was one of several firms backed by powerful Malaysian politicians that profited from Malaysia’s revised foreign worker application process.

The report said over the past five years, the elaborate scam, involving a deeply-rooted nexus of politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats in Nepal and Malaysia, took in more than Rs5 billion (RM185 million) from vulnerable Nepalis looking for jobs in Malaysia. 

Zahid was deputy prime minister and home minister at the time.

“It all started five years ago when Malaysia’s home minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, outsourced the registration process to a private company (Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd), which required Nepali migrant workers to apply for work visas through a Kathmandu-based affiliate, Malaysia VLN Nepal.

“The agency charged Rs3,200 (RM118) from every Malaysia-bound Nepali worker, and collected Rs1.95 billion from more than 600,000 workers between September 2013 and April 2018,” it said.

The newspaper said Nepal Labour Minister Gokarna Bista was cracking down on several Kathmandu-based companies set up to extort fees from overseas contract workers.

Bestinet has denied any involvement with Bangladeshi worker smuggling syndicates, saying it was not a recruitment agency or involved in the foreign worker recruitment process in Malaysia or labour source countries. – July 22, 2018.