Human trafficking charges: CID clears ex-minister, secy after KL’s request

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has cleared the former expatriates' welfare minister, its former secretary, several MPs and a syndicate of 101 recruiting agencies of charges of human trafficking and money laundering.

The move comes three months after Malaysian authorities requested Bangladesh to review or withdraw the charges in relation to the labour recruitment in Malaysia.

In the final report submitted on July 15 to the Anti-Human Trafficking Special Tribunal of Dhaka on human trafficking, Md Rasel, police inspector (heinous crimes) of CID, said the investigation has found no proof of the allegations.

The report recommended actions against the plaintiff Altab Khan.

"These agencies collected varying amounts -- Tk 4 lakh, Tk 4.5 lakh, Tk 5 lakh -- but passengers only signed documents acknowledging Tk 78,900. If they paid more, they themselves must lodge complaints. So far, not a single victim has done so."

— Md Rasel, investigating officer

Khan, meanwhile, submitted a no-confidence petition to the court against the final report, saying that the CID inspector must have been influenced by the accused and hence submitted such a flawed report.

Earlier on April 23, Malaysian Human Resources Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Azman bin Mohd Yusof had written a letter to Expatriates' Welfare Ministry Secretary Neyamt Ullah Bhuiyan requesting the review or withdrawal of the cases related to the labour recruitment in Malaysia.

"The allegations of human trafficking and money laundering -- largely unsubstantiated -- have impacted the Malaysian reputation," he said in the letter.

He also requested the secretary to prevent the revival of dismissed cases to ensure that Malaysia will preserve and enhance the US Trafficking in Person ranking by demonstrating continued commitment to ethical recruitment.

Under a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and Malaysia, about 480,000 Bangladeshis went to Malaysia for work between August 2022 and May 2024 through 101 recruiting agents.

All their recruitment documents were processed by a web-based system named Foreign Workers Centralised Management System, which, industry insiders said, was a tool to manipulate the recruitment process.

As per the MoU, the recruitment cost has been agreed to be Tk 78,990.

However, on March 28 last year, four UN experts wrote a letter to the Bangladesh and Malaysia governments detailing labour exploitation in Malaysia.

They mentioned that each migrant spent between $4,500 and $6,000 (Tk 5-6 lakh).

It said the whole process reportedly begins with bribery within Malaysia's human resources and home affairs ministries to obtain "fake quotas for bogus employers".

"Subsequently, bribery extends to the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia and Bangladeshi syndicated agents to facilitate recruitment approval," the letter said.

In response, Bangladesh's mission to the UN in Geneva on May 29 last year said Dhaka wanted to allow all its 1,520 licensed recruitment agencies to send workers to Malaysia but Kuala Lumpur selected only 101 agents.

In March, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed 12 separate cases against 12 recruiting agency owners, including former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and his family, former MP Nizam Uddin Hazari, Masud Uddin Chowdhury and former MP Benzir Ahmed for allegedly embezzling Tk 1,128 crore in human trafficking in different times.

Meanwhile, Khan, proprietor of recruiting agency Afia Overseas, had filed a human trafficking case with Paltan Model Police Station on September 3 last year against former state minister for expatriates' welfare Imran Ahmad, secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen and 101 recruiting agencies including the above-mentioned MPs and Kamal's family members Kashmiri Kamal and Nafisa Kamal.

The case accused them of embezzling Tk 24,000 crore through an organised syndicate.

Ahmad was arrested in October last year in connection with the case.

"Many of the Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia were exploited, confined, jobless and their passports confiscated -- these are all signs of human trafficking," Khan told The Daily Star.

Many recruiting agencies in Bangladesh, including Afia Overseas, also faced losses because of the syndicate that extorted huge amounts of money, he said.

The complainant in the case was not a direct victim as the alleged victims were the workers who paid the money, the CID inspector Rasel told The Daily Star.

About 4.76 lakh passengers were involved, many of whom paid through 3,000 agencies rather than directly to the so-called 103 processing agency, he said.

"These agencies collected varying amounts -- Tk 4 lakh, Tk 4.5 lakh, Tk 5 lakh -- but passengers only signed documents acknowledging Tk 78,900. If they paid more, they themselves must lodge complaints. So far, not a single victim has done so."

The case lacked proper evidence, Rasel added.

In his no-confidence petition against the report, Khan said the accused, as part of the syndicate, influenced the police to transfer the investigation to a preferred CID unit without consulting him or seeking his input.

"During the investigation, the officer had no contact with me and was clearly influenced by the accused. Out of hostility and malice, he submitted a false and fabricated report, prepared or dictated by the accused," the petition said.

Khan said Interpol's National Central Bureau in Dhaka on October 24 last year requested assistance from Malaysian police to arrest two alleged masterminds -- Bangladeshi-origin Malaysian citizen Md Aminul Islam (Amin Nur) and former Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies secretary general Mohammed Ruhul Amin -- on charges of human trafficking and extortion.

"Interrogating them will uncover the true picture of the human trafficking," he said, adding that the request to Malaysia was based on the accounts of former minister Ahmad.

Khan said he will pursue the case until he is satisfied.