No formal extradition request from Bangladesh for Bestinet founder Aminul Islam, says home minister

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Putrajaya has not received any formal request  to extradite Bestinet Sdn Bhd founder Datuk Seri Mohamed Aminul Islam, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Parliament through a written reply published last night.

Aminul Islam, who founded the company running the controversial Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), is wanted by the Bangladeshi authorities as part of its investigation in money laundering and extortion charges.

Malaysia and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty but has a legal provision to do so under the Extradition Act 1992, Saifuddin said in the reply.

“An application has to be made to the home minister through the applying country’s diplomatic representative, in line with Section 12 of the Extradition Act 1992,” he said.

“If Malaysia has no (extradition) treaty with another country, a request can still be done under Section 3 of the Act. The government can only consider extraditing a person if all legal requirements relating to extradition have been fulfilled,” the minister added.

Section 3 of the Act gives minister discretionary power to decide on extraditions if another country makes a request.

Bloomberg reported in 2024 that Bangladeshi police had asked Malaysia to deport Aminul and one Ruhul Amin.

Ruhul is the owner of Catharsis International, a recruitment company based in Dhaka.

A letter from Interpol in Bangladesh to its counterpart in Malaysia said Aminul and another person Ruhul had played a key role in extorting money from victims while exposing them to physical and mental torture.

Both Aminul and Ruhul have denied the claim.