Not afraid of being investigated by the MACC.
Former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says he is ready to be investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over allegations his family members had profited from the trafficking of Nepali migrant workers.
“I am ready to be investigated and show evidence that I was not involved or had abused my power or that any of my family members were involved,” he told reporters at Parliament lobby on Monday (July 23).
Dr Ahmad Zahid was responding to claims in a report by Nepali Times that high-ranking politicians in Nepal, as well as former Malaysian officials and their family members, were involved in fleecing vulnerable Nepali migrant workers desperate to seek work in Malaysia of more than RM185 million over the past five years.
The report stated that Zahid, who was also the Home Minister then, had outsourced a private company, Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd, which required Nepali migrant workers to apply for work visas through a Kathmandu-based affiliate, Malaysia VLN Nepal.
Reportedly, the agency made it mandatory for all Nepali migrants to undergo a biometric health screening test via Bestinet Sdn Bhd, a company allegedly run by Dr Ahmad Zahid’s brother-in-law Amin Abdul Nor.
The report further claimed that Zahid’s brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi and former Natural Resources and Environment Minister Tan Sri Azmi Khalid also reportedly owned shares in Bestinet.
Asked on his family links to Bestinet, Dr Ahmad Zahid said that none of his sisters or family members was involved.
“I am not involved and it’s not mine.
“It belongs to a Bangladeshi,” he claimed.
He denied having a brother-in-law named Amin or having any shares in Bestinet, and said the company had been in business before he became Home Minister.
Earlier reports:
Jul 23, Zahid-Linked Company in Alleged RM185M Nepali Worker Scam
Jun 22, Report: Bangladeshi Made RM2B Smuggling 100,000 Countrymen to Malaysia