Ramu Sapkota in Kathmandu with Alyaa Alhadjri in Kuala Lumpur
Nepali Times | 20 July 2018
A deeply-rooted nexus of politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats in Nepal and Malaysia have looted more than Rs5 billion over the past five years from vulnerable Nepali migrant workers desperate to seek work in Malaysia.
Nepal’s Labour Minister Gokarna Bista is trying to dismantle those involved in the exploitation by cracking down on several Kathmandu-based companies set up to extort fees from overseas contract workers. In Malaysia itself, the newly-elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad has also launched an investigation into the previous government’s involvement in profiting from migrant workers.
The scam involved powerful Malaysian businesses with close links to ministers and officials in the Barisan Nasional coalition of former Prime Minister Najib Razak and implemented by their agents in Kathmandu who had contacts with influential politicians and bureaucrats in Nepal.
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