Malaysian Police urged to probe minister over 'inconsistencies' regarding Bangladeshi recruitment deal

Malaysian non-governmental organisation (NGO) Ikhlas, the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Alliance, filed a police report against Malaysian Human Resources Minister Seri M Saravanan accusing him of abusing power and corruption over suspicion of trying to hide "inconsistencies" in recruiting Bangladeshis.

Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, the president of Ikhlas, made the report at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters claiming that his suspicions arose after reading a Malay Mail report on 17 June quoting a Bangladeshi minister, reports Malay Mail. 

Abdullah stated that in the report, the Bangladeshi minister refuted Saravanan's claims that Bangladesh has made the decision to only allow 25 of its agencies to recruit workers for Malaysia.

"We feel this is an issue of national safety and abuse of power, we see that his (Saravanan's) statement has changed from morning to evening.

"If the Bangladesh minister says they did not select the 25 agencies, then who did? "We ask for the goodwill of the police to investigate the matter, this is the third report we are making on the matter," he said

Earlier this month, Saravanan said that Dhaka and Putrajaya had jointly agreed to a limit of 25 agencies to recruit Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia. he also claimed that it was the source country's responsibility to decide on the number of agencies that need to be approved to recruit workers for foreign countries.

Following Saravanan's statement, The Business Post reported Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad as saying that neither he nor the republic's prime minister Sheikh Hasina had approved the recruitment companies.

Ahmad also clarified that the MoU signed by the two countries did not mention anything about 25 agencies. 

Alongside the police report, Abdullah reached out to the Home Ministry, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Prime Minister Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob regarding the situation. 

"I've known the Prime Minister for some time and I know that he is clean, but I worry that if he doesn't open his mouth then the public will think he is also involved in corruption," he said.

He shared his concern on the matter, saying that if the 25 agency limit gets passed, Malaysia will have to face increased charges for hiring Bangladeshi workers. 

"Then why bring in more Bangladeshis? Charge them (those undocumented) a compound and then allow them to work here," he said.

Saravanan's statement has been received with protests from both countries.