Founder and Chairman of Malaysia-based Malik Group of Companies Abdul Malik Dasthigeer – widely known as Dato Malik – have finally been arrested, as the country’s authorities busted a syndicate linked to corruption, breach of trust, smuggling, and under-declaration of taxes.
During a multi-agency raid on July 25, Malaysian authorities arrested the “Datuk” businessman and his accomplices, and seized around RM38 million in cash and 200 kilograms of gold, reports bilingual news portal Free Malaysia Today.
Dato Malik is a well-known proxy and bag carrier for former human resource minister of Malaysia Saravanan Murugan. Saravanan made his ill-gotten fortune by running a syndicate to control the process of hiring foreign workers.
Over the span of years, the mastermind’s schemes left hundreds of thousands of aspirant workers – a sizable portion of which are Bangladeshis – practically penniless.
Saravanan’s syndicate – which Malik is a key part of – had deliberately set a limit of 25 agencies to create a monopoly in the process of recruiting Bangladeshi workers, which accelerated all related costs significantly.
Industry insiders say Dato Malik is the main associate of Dato Sri Amin, a Malaysian national of Bangladeshi origin, who is the alleged mastermind of a syndicate involved in the process of recruiting workers for Malaysia.
It was through Malik that Dato Sri Amin got the approval of various companies to send workers to that country. Dato Sri Amin's company Bestinet and Malaysian company KSM acted as media for sending workers overseas.
Manpower exporters say this sector of Bangladesh is facing hurdles due to Dato Malik's schemes. In 2007, about seven lakh workers went to Malaysia. However, since reopening of the market, only 1.80 lakh workers have been sent to that country till July 16.
The situation has raised questions among stakeholders.
Insiders say because of Dato Malik’s involvement, the cost of going to Malaysia has increased significantly for workers. At the same time, the process of sending workers as per International Labour Organization (ILO) rules has been disrupted.
Although the employer is supposed to bear all the costs of hiring workers, workers cannot be sent free of cost due to unethical extra payment requirements of Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMCH). The migrant workers are suffering because of this system.
According to sources, Dato Sri Amin owns four companies – SPPA, JR Joint, Bestinet, and Cinerflux. After buying citizenship of Malaysia, he has been running the business of recruiting people from Bangladesh using different company names.
Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi community living in Malaysia alleged that Dato Sri Amin, who became influential overnight in Malaysia by doing manpower recruitment business, not only took people to Malaysia, but also took money to send illegal people back to the country.
Aminur Rahman and his Bestinet made a business of taking up to a thousand ringgit (around Tk 22,000) from each illegal immigrant to send them back home, while Abdul Malik Dasthigeer is the main accomplice of these corruptions.
The hiring costs were so incredibly ridiculous that Bangladesh refused to send any workers in 2020, till a transparent system was in place. Malik, the former human resource minister’s trusted lieutenant, laundered dirty money from the Bangladeshi recruitment businesses.
According to Malaysian authorities, simultaneous raids were conducted at 34 locations around the Klang Valley. The gold seized during the operation was valued at RM60 million. Officers also seized 17 luxury cars.
Malik is the founder and chairman of Malik Group of Companies, which comprises Malik Streams Corporation Sdn Bhd, Malik Maju Sdn Bhd, Malik Streams Properties Sdn Bhd, Malik Streams Antenna Movies Sdn Bhd, and Malik Streams Production & Distribution.
He is well known for bringing in artists from India to perform Tamil concerts in Malaysia.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Azam Baki told Malaysian news outlets that a case was being investigated under the MACC Act 2009, Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, Income Tax Act 1967, and Customs Act 1967 after the raid.
The operation was carried out in collaboration with six other enforcement agencies, namely the police, immigration department, customs department, Bank Negara Malaysia, Inland Revenue Board, and CyberSecurity Malaysia.
This operation, codenamed Op 82S, is the first one in Malaysia conducted under the Multi-Agency Task Force, which is chaired by the country's attorney general.
How Saravanan cornered Bangladeshi expatriates
According to Malaysian media reports, Saravanan’s biggest dirty money machine was the hiring of foreign workers into the country.
On June 16 last year, Saravanan said Bangladesh and Malaysia had agreed to a limit of 25 agencies to recruit Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia. However, the next day, Bangladesh’s Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad rubbished the statement.
The Bangladeshi minister had also clarified that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both countries did not mention anything about a 25-agency limit.
Worse, despite admitting that there was a surplus of illegal Bangladeshi workers in the country, Saravanan had pushed to bring in more Bangladeshis. And the disgraced human resource minister deliberately set a limit of 25 agencies to create a monopoly.
The cost of hiring foreign workers shot up from about RM16,000 to RM20,000 per worker because various agencies involved had to “share the money at different levels.”
The Bangladeshi government wanted its Malaysian counterpart to connect to their online system to detect irregularities, but was declined.
If the Malaysian labour market is allowed to link directly to the Bangladeshi system, it would kill syndicates and middlemen, ending the monopoly and corruption. Saravanan rejected it as he was on top of the food chain of the lucrative market.
Media reports hinted that the ill-gotten cash and luxurious cars recently seized by the Malaysian government show how the business has made Saravanan and his cronies – including Dato Malik – mega rich.
The arrestees also included businessman and politician Datuk V Saravanan Kumar and Datuk Shafee Zaman – the owner of Tamil newspaper Nanban.
More than 30 suspects have been identified by the Malaysian anti-corruption agency, which also busted a syndicate involved in corruption, smuggling, money laundering, and illegal tax evasion.
Dato Malik is currently out on bail, following his arrest by the Malaysian authorities last Tuesday under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
