Bestinet denies it is involved in money laundering
PETALING JAYA: Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which runs the foreign workers centralised management system to register foreign workers in Malaysia, has denied involvement in money laundering.
“We do not collect cash. The RM100 fee per foreign worker is banked into the system. It’s in our books. How can there be money laundering?” said Bestinet executive director Datuk Rathakrishnan Vellaisamy.
He was responding to Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran’s statement in Parliament yesterday that the Nepal government had barred its workers from coming to Malaysia and was investigating Bestinet for money laundering.
It was reported the Nepal government was unhappy with its workers having no choice but to go through only one private company for security and medical check-ups, as part of the visa requirement to work in Malaysia.
There are at least 500,000 Nepalese workers in the country and most of them are security guards and construction workers.
In a media briefing here yesterday, Rathakrishnan expressed disappointment at the false allegations thrown at Bestinet.
“We would be more than happy to meet Kulasegaran to explain our role in the foreign workers recruitment process.”
When asked to identify Bestinet’s shareholders, he said they were Datuk Seri Mohd Aminul Islam Abdul Nor and Datuk Tengku Omar Tengku Bot.
Present was Bestinet chief executive officer Ismail Mohd Noor.
Ismail said Bestinet did not monopolise the foreign workers’ recruitment process.
“We only handle the health screening of foreign workers.
“We are not involved in providing immigration security clearance, overseas visa and onestop centre services.
“Hence, allegations that Bestinet has been charging migrant workers to scan passports and fingerprints, and uploading the data online are false.”
He said the only reason Bestinet employees’ collected biometric data at source countries was to ensure that the person who went for the medical check-up was the same person who arrived in Malaysia.
“The biometrics collection is to prevent fraud.
“We welcome the government’s decision to review systems and service providers in the recruitment and management of foreign workers. We look forward to giving our support.”
Rathakrishnan said if Bestinet continued to face false accusations, the company would file a defamation suit.