The Home Minister has a huge task ahead of them — that is to launch a full-blown probe and inquest into a stunning amount of over RM185million conned off poor Nepalis through Malaysian companies set up to handle what the Immigration Department should be doing. These Malaysian companies, namely Bestinet Sdn Bhd linked to Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi former Home Minister and his Bangladeshi brother in law Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, Syarikat Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd the first Malaysian agency to enter Nepal which is a ‘strategic’ partner to the Immigration Department and into the Malaysia VLN Nepal which is a sister organisation of Harvest Moon Group and also a business partner to Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd.
Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd which was first set up in 2011 by the Home Ministry to process visa documentation from tourists from China entered Nepal in November 2013 and with that begin to charge exorbitant fees to process visa applications from RM26 (Rs700) to RM143 (Rs3900). They then utilised a Nepal-based associate, Malaysia Visa Luar Negara (VLN) Nepal to unreasonably and irresponsibly increase the rates by 550%. To date, there is NO company website for Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd.
Then the BN led Government decided to use Bestinet Sdn Bhd for mandatory biometric health screenings in Nepal partnering with the Nepal Health Professional Federation (NHPF) at only 39 medical centres charging them an additional RM165 (Rs4500) and collecting a whopping RM37million (Rs1billion) for their biometric health screenings which they could have done at 200 health outfits approved by the government costing them less that what they have been forcibly subjected to — no questions asked.
More than RM185million ‘hush money’ collected from over 600,000 Nepali workers in a period between September 2013 and April 2018 through Malaysia Visa Luar Negara (VLN), Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd and Bestinet Sdn Bhd forcing poverty stricken Nepali men and women to scavenge for the disgusting amounts set arbitrarily by companies that are linked with UMNO leaders, namely Datuk Zahid Hamidi.
Perhaps this mafia sort of business arrangement has led to the Nepali government discontinuing their workers from being employed in Malaysia. As it takes two to tango, Malaysian agencies could not be working alone without a concrete network of scoundrels in Nepal who have no qualms or ethics in bleeding the poor dry; namely Nepal Health Professional Federation, One Stop Centre (OSC) and GSG Nepal.
It is inconceivable and indefensible for the then Prime Minister Najib Razak not to have known the dirty-deeds of his second-in-charge, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who was Deputy Prime Minister as well Home Minister in this shame of a sham robbing poor Nepali workers who, literally walk through the ‘shadows of death’ to get to Malaysia, alive and in one piece.
There is nothing more dishonourable for a leader of a nation to be embroiled in a sham like this, amassing obscene amounts of money and losing the plot by playing a reverse Robin Hood, robbing the poor to feed the starving rich.
Home Ministry must grab the bull by its horns and launch a world wide probe starting with the Immigration Department with an inquest leaving no stones unturned onto Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s linked Bestinet Sdn Bhd and Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd, which has swindled more than RM185million from poor Nepalis searching for a better employment in Malaysia.
Kasthuri Patto
Member of Parliament for Batu Kawan
Publicity Secretary for Wanita DAP