The government of Malaysia wants Bangladesh to clarify the purpose of its request to extradite two businessmen, Bestinet Sdn Bhd founder Aminul Islam and his associate Ruhul Amin.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said Dhaka should explain whether Aminul and Ruhul were merely needed for questioning as part of an investigation or if they were to be charged in court.

He added that the extradition request did not reveal the purpose.

“We need to clarify the objective first. If the objective is for Dhaka to conduct investigations, then they should use the mutual legal assistance channel for that.

“If Dhaka’s purpose is to charge these individuals in court, then they should say that is the purpose of the extradition,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Nibong Tebal.

Saifuddin said the duo can only be extradited if Dhaka is pressing charges against them.

He added that he had discussed Bangladesh’s extradition request with the attorney-general (AG) and inspector-general of police (IGP) for their feedback on the matter.

“I believe the IGP will handle this and liaise with his Bangladeshi counterpart.”

Bloomberg had reported that Bangladeshi police had written to Putrajaya requesting the arrest and extradition of the pair to facilitate their probe into alleged money laundering, extortion and trafficking of migrant workers.

In a letter dated Oct 24, Bangladesh’s Interpol branch told its Malaysian counterpart that the duo had allegedly exposed their victims to physical and mental torture, and played a vital role in a system that fraudulently extorted money from the victims.

Aminul, who was born in Bangladesh but was granted Malaysian citizenship, and Ruhul have denied the allegations. Ruhul owns Dhaka-based recruitment firm Catharsis International.

Bangladeshi police also requested that Putrajaya temporarily halt the use of computer software supplied by Bestinet.

Bestinet recently had its six-year contract to develop and maintain the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) extended by the home ministry.

In July, the Public Accounts Committee revealed that Bestinet had 24 unauthorised users on FWCMS involved in approving applications for the intake of foreign workers.

The 2022 Auditor-General’s Report also found that there was no signed agreement between the government and Bestinet for the supply of the system.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

BDST: 1051 HRS, NOV 10, 2024
MN