KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 2): Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which has come under limelight for its alleged knavery in the recruitment of foreign workers, has dismissed a news report claiming it had contacted government officials in Nepal and Malaysia to discuss a recent decision by Nepal to ban its citizens from working in Malaysia. 

“What we actually said is that we met with the Immigration attache at the Malaysian embassy in Nepal who advised us not to contact Nepalese government officials, as the ban on workers seeking employment in Malaysia was a government-to-government matter and had to be discussed and resolved at that level,” the company said in a media statement today. 

Bestinet was responding to an article by The Star yesterday (Aug 1) which reported the company’s meeting with Nepali officials to reverse the ban had yet to yield any result. 

“We have written to the publication to demand a retraction and apology,” Bestinet said. 

The daily’s report also drew flak from the Embassy of Nepal, which said there had been no contact with Bestinet “for a meeting or discussion whatsover.”

On July 28, The Star reported Nepal had decided to stop its citizens from working in Malaysia with immediate effect, as it was unhappy with “restrictive” immigration requirements that included security and medical vetting of workers by Bestinet, a private company. 

The immigration requirement is part of the government’s Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), rolled out on June 15, 2014 and outsourced to Bestinet. 

In 2015, Bestinet said it was awarded a six-year contract to design and manage FWCMS. 

The Nepalis comprise the second largest group of foreign workers in Malaysia, the largest being Indonesians. 

Currently, there are some 500,000 Nepalis in Malaysia — 150,000 working as security guards and the rest in construction and manufacturing. 

Bestinet came under the spotlight in June, following a report by the Nepali Times alleging the company’s involvement in money-laundering activities as part of a recruitment racket. 

The Nepali Times report also claimed Bestinet is run by a Bangladeshi Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, who it said is the brother-in-law of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamid. 

Ahmad Zahid has denied any link to Bestinet or Aminul Islam, and says he is ready to be investigated by the authorities.