Damning Bloomberg report implicates Putrajaya in giving second life to Bangladeshi-owned firm accused of human trafficking

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi played a "key role" alongside a Bangladeshi-owned company that was given free rein to recruit millions of migrant workers, raising questions about what has been described as a human trafficking cartel that has made huge profits from poor families, many of whom have lost their entire life savings to pay "syndicate fees" in exchange for jobs that never existed, according to a new explosive investigation by Bloomberg.

This followed the financial daily's 10-month investigation into allegations of high-level corruption in the recruitment process of migrant workers involving Bestinet, a company founded by Bangladeshi national turned Malaysian citizen, Aminul Islam.

Documents seen by Bloomberg stated that companies founded by Amin, who has been conferred the title of Datuk Seri, pocketed more than US$100 million (RM400 million) in the past 10 years, roughly the period since Bestinet was first awarded a multi-billion ringgit government contract to manage Malaysia's foreign worker visas.

The report quoted people who knew Amin as saying that he forged an alliance with Zahid and "put several former senior government officials on his companies’ boards".

Bestinet came under the spotlight in 2015, when the home ministry led by Zahid hired it to run the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), only for it to later become mired in controversy over a drastic hike in fees exceeding 1,500%.

The decision to award the job to Bestinet was made despite the International Labour Organization's finding two years earlier that Amin’s paperless recruitment system was not foolproof in protecting migrants from excessive fees, according to Bloomberg.

At the heart of the outrage was the fact that all recruitment orders would involve only 10 of Bangladesh’s more than 1,000 agencies, a condition the Bangladeshi government was pressured to accept.

Zahid had then announced that Malaysia would bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers, but critics say many arrived only to find they had been duped by promises of jobs, and were soon forced to hide or disappear for fear of their illegal status.

Following the change of government in 2018, Bestinet was suspended due to allegations of exploitation of Nepali migrant workers. In 2019, however, then human resources minister M Kulasegaran announced the return of Bestinet after dismissing allegations against it.

Arrived for job, departed in a body bag

Bloomberg recalled the harrowing story of one such victim, Shofiqul Islam, a Bangladeshi farmer who borrowed to pay US$4,400 (RM17,600) in recruitment fees to secure a construction job, hoping to return home with a better future for his two young children.

"The US$4,400 fee Shofiqul paid would be the equivalent of an American paying US$140,000 for a job," it said.

Upon his arrival at KLIA, his employer, Petrazehra Bhd, sent someone to collect him and dropped him at a run-down building, before disappearing.

According to Bloomberg, Petrazehra is a company belonging to one Muhaimin Mohd Fadhilah. Despite having no revenue in the previous two years, it was approved to recruit 1,500 Bangladeshis. Muhaimin did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.

Meanwhile, months passed. Shofiqul remained jobless, his family burdened with debt back home, and his visa had expired. He could not find another job as that would violate Malaysia's rule prohibiting migrant workers like him from switching companies until they were debt-free.

"His options were to wait for his employer, Petrazehra Bhd, to provide the job, or disappear into Malaysia’s underworld of undocumented migrants," the report added.

In these desperate circumstances, Shofiqul fell ill and died in early 2024, his body flown back to his village. Left with nothing, his wife and two daughters were forced to move out, still struggling to pay the debt for the recruitment fees.

'Everyone gets a cut'

Bloomberg said Shofiqul's story is repeated thousands of times.

It quoted current and former senior government officials as saying that the lucrative business of bringing in foreign low-skilled workers led some companies to "over-recruit or promise fake jobs".

"The recruitment fees sustain the system. Everyone gets a cut, and the workers pay."

From MACC probe to 'NFA'

Not long before taking office on a promise of reforms and eliminating corruption, Anwar called for a probe into Bestinet as well as the recruitment process of foreign workers.

"I referred to it as modern slavery, where workers are blackmailed while traders and agents act as oppressors who reap huge profits," he said in June 2022.

In July that year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) launched an investigation into Bestinet.

More than two years later, in September 2024, MACC declared "no further action" on Bestinet, shortly after the company was granted a lucrative six-year extension by Anwar's Cabinet.

Bloomberg quoted two sources who said the decision was the result of Amin "tapping into his network".

"He visited the MACC to speak with its chief, Azam Baki," the report stated, quoting two people who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

"The commission’s investigation was dropped," the report added, noting that Amin had denied meeting Azam.

The report also quoted sources as saying that Amin "asked top officials to lobby Anwar to extend Bestinet’s term".

"Zahid... privately pushed the prime minister... At the end of a Cabinet meeting in early 2024, Anwar made a surprise announcement: Bestinet would get an extension."

That extension increases the government’s payment for each issuance of an ePass (temporary online work permit) from RM100 previously to RM215, potentially giving the company at least RM3.2 billion over the next six years, in an agreement criticised by the parliamentary watchdog Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Bloomberg said Anwar, Zahid, Amin and the home ministry have either declined or not responded to requests for comment on the latest claims.