Bestinet denies ‘milking Nepalis’ as alleged in ‘Nepali Times’

KUALA LUMPUR: Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which is at the centre of claims that over RM185 million was milked from Nepalis seeking work in Malaysia over the past five years, has denied the allegation.

In a press statement released yesterday, the company said the article in Nepali Times on June 20 titled “Kleptocrats of Kathmandu and Kuala Lumpur”, was “entirely false”.

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

“The company’s goal is to be a positive presence in the markets it operates in and affirms its commitment to its code of business conduct and ethics.

“Bestinet refutes and emphatically denies the allegations contained in the article.”

It also made clear that Datuk Sri Mohd Amin Abdul Nor, founder and chairman of Bestinet, was not the brother-inlaw of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. It said Zahid’s brother Datuk Abdul Hakim Hamidi was also not a shareholder of the company while (former home minister) Tan Sri Azmi Khalid was never a shareholder of Bestinet and resigned as director in January last year.

“In fact, no one in Bestinet is related to Zahid.”

According to Nepali Times, the money made by Nepali businessmen and officials over the years came from fees for visas and biometric screening involving Nepali companies affiliated to Bestinet.

It claimed that Bestinet, which developed a foreign worker system for the Immigration Department, was linked to Zahid and several Umno politicians as well as Bangladesh middlemen who made huge profits from Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Among those named in the article were Zahid, Amin and Azmi.

Bestinet said the company was only a service provider for the biomedical system while the biometric screening mentioned in the article was one of the modules of Bestinet’s own pioneering and awardwinning Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS).

Bestinet said it was not involved in providing the Immigration Security Clearance, Visa Luar Negara and One Stop Centre services.

“Hence the allegations made that Bestinet has been charging migrant worker for scanning passports, fingerprinting and uploading the data online are entirely false.

“We welcome the government’s intention to set up a committee to conduct a thorough review into all systems and service providers related to the recruitment and management of foreign workers and we look forward to providing our full support.”

The company also hit out at local media which had repeated the Nepali Times article without getting a response from Bestinet.

“The publication and the reporters who authored the articled failed to abide by the Media Code of Ethics and made very little effort to find out the truth, choosing, instead, to publish untruth and misleading allegations against Bestinet.

“The actions, which were highly defamatory and affect the company’s reputation, have been carried out without any attempt to clarify with us.

“Bestinet is demanding that an immediate apology, a retraction and a correction be issued by the Nepali Times.

“Bestinet takes these allegations very seriously and reserves the right to take all necessary steps against Nepali Times and authors of the article,” it said.

Bestinet is demanding that an immediate apology, a retraction and a correction be issued by the ‘Nepali Times’.