“Allegations of human trafficking and money laundering – largely unsubstantiated – have impacted Malaysia’s reputation,” the secretary-general of the human resources ministry, Azman Yusof, wrote in a letter dated Apr 23, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.
In its statement on Thursday, the Human Resources Ministry thanked Bangladesh for recognising Malaysia’s efforts to reform the foreign worker recruitment system and crack down on abuse, following the courtesy call by Asif, the Bangladeshi official who was also accompanied by the special envoy for international affairs Lutfey Siddiqi.
“The Bangladeshi side confirmed that Malaysia was not involved in any of the previously raised allegations and voiced its support for our principled and firm stance against human trafficking,” the statement wrote, as quoted by FMT.
During the meeting between Sim and the Bangladeshi delegation, Sim also stressed that foreign worker recruitment should be driven by genuine industry needs and not for profit.
FMT reported that for more than a decade, the US has said that Malaysia does not meet standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, adding that Putrajaya is not making significant and sufficient efforts to rectify the issue.
A low TIP ranking would mean that a country can be restricted from accessing foreign assistance funding from the US or possibly face resistance by US representatives at the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral institutions for access to loans.
In October last year, Bangladeshi authorities had asked the Malaysian government to arrest and extradite two businessmen as part of a probe into alleged money laundering, extortion and trafficking of migrant workers.
They are the founder and associate of a controversial firm managing Malaysia’s migrant worker intake, Bestinet Sdn Bhd.
