Labour Syndicate: CID acquit accused; plaintiff seeks court review
Staff Reporter :
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has submitted its final report in the case involving a syndicate of recruiting agencies allegedly exploiting the Malaysian labour market, concluding that none of the accused were involved in corruption or human trafficking.
Consequently, three former Awami League MPs and family members of former Finance
Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal (Lotus Kamal) are likely to be acquitted.
However, the plaintiff has expressed serious doubts about the report’s credibility and has applied to the court to file a no-confidence petition.
This development follows a Malaysiakini report revealing that Bangladesh agreed to a Malaysian request to suspend the investigation into allegations of exploitation of Bangladeshi migrant workers.
In May, Bloomberg reported that Kuala Lumpur urged Dhaka to drop “unsubstantiated allegations” in order to improve Malaysia’s ranking in the US State Department’s trafficking-in-persons report.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus is currently on a visit to Malaysia from 11 to 13 August, with labour migration expected to be a key topic of discussion, although no new recruitment agreement is anticipated.
The case dates back to 3 September last year, when Altab Khan, owner of Afia Overseas, filed a human trafficking complaint at Paltan Police Station against 103 individuals. He accused them of embezzling Tk24,000 crore through an organised syndicate.
The accused included former expatriates’ welfare minister Imran Ahmed, former senior secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, ex-MP Nizam Uddin Hazari, retired Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury, and Kashmiri Kamal and her daughter Nafisa Kamal, alongside over 100 recruiting agency owners.
CID Inspector Md Russell of the Human Trafficking Unit recently submitted the final report to the court, citing a lack of evidence.
The plaintiff alleges the investigation was shifted to a preferred CID unit to favour the accused, with no consultation or contact with him. He has called the report “false and fabricated.”
Altab Khan further claimed that evidence included an Interpol letter from the NCB Dhaka dated 24 October, requesting Malaysian police assistance in arresting two alleged masterminds: Malaysian citizen Md Aminul Islam (Amin Nur) and former Baira secretary general Mohammed Ruhul Amin. Both are accused of human trafficking and extortion.
The letter stated that recruitment in Malaysia is controlled through the Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS), owned by Aminul Islam, with Ruhul Amin as a partner.
Former Baira leader Md Fakhrul Islam alleged that the duo monopolise agency selection in Malaysia and have blocked legal action against themselves. He warned that acquitting the accused may allow similar syndicates to resurface.
According to the CID report, the plaintiff failed to present witnesses or documents, and no migrant workers or agencies lodged complaints regarding the alleged Tk24,000 crore embezzlement.
Defence evidence demonstrated that the official migration fee of Tk78,900 was charged, with receipts issued accordingly.
The report dismissed the allegations as “false, fabricated, baseless, and motivated” and recommended discharging the accused. It even suggested pursuing legal action against the plaintiff.
The report also noted that Malaysia-not Bangladesh-selected the 100 recruiting agencies, rejecting claims of a syndicate.
However, the CID’s Financial Crime Unit, conducting a separate investigation, claimed to possess evidence that workers were charged Tk1.5 lakh each-nearly double the official fee-and has recorded statements from 15 victims.
In a parallel case, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed 12 cases on 11 March against recruiting agencies, including one owned by Mustafa Kamal, accusing them of overcharging and laundering Tk1,128 crore from 67,380 workers by collecting Tk4.5-6 lakh per person despite the official fee cap. The case remains ongoing.
Under a 2021 memorandum of understanding, Malaysia selected 100 recruiting agencies from over 2,500 applicants, a move experts say enabled monopolisation and inflated fees. In May, Malaysia suspended recruitment from Bangladesh over these corruption allegations.