“It’s (Bestinet) controlled by a major labour broker. The recruitment process must be open and transparent in both countries,” the former Klang MP said in a statement.

Bestinet is the IT system provider for the recruitment of workers from all source countries.

In July last year, the company was raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after a labour agency in Dhaka accused Bestinet’s founder of “persuading” the government to limit the number of agencies that supply Bangladeshi workers to only 25.

Santiago said the management of foreign worker recruitment should be placed under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), instead of the home ministry and the human resources ministry.

“(There should be a) department chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and headed by a former judge, CEO or a retired senior government servant,” he said.

At the same time, Santiago also urged the government to publicise the findings of the 2019 Special Committee on Foreign Workers Management report chaired by Court of Appeal judge, Justice Hishammudin Yunus.

“Migrant workers’ management could have been improved by leaps and bounds, but alas, we rather pay the price of inaction,” he said.

The 2019 report was said to have recommended placing the recruitment of workers under the human resources ministry but sources told FMT the then-PH Cabinet was opposed to publicising the findings.