No extradition request for Bestinet founder Aminul, says Saifuddin

PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya has yet to receive an official request from the Bangladeshi government or its high commission in Malaysia seeking the extradition of Bestinet Sdn Bhd founder Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, says home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

In a written parliamentary reply today, he said since the two countries have not signed an extradition treaty, Bangladesh must make a formal application to the Malaysian home minister in accordance with the Extradition Act 1992.

“The government can only consider extraditing the person in question if all legal requirements relating to extradition have been fulfilled,” he said.

Saifuddin noted that the Malaysian extradition process is based on the Extradition Act and treaties of extradition with other countries.

“If Malaysia has no such treaty with a foreign country, extradition can still be done based on Section 3 of the Extradition Act,” he said.

Section 3 empowers the home minister to personally give a “special direction” on extradition if the foreign country makes a request for extradition.

Saifuddin was responding to Wong Chen (PH-Subang), who had sought an update on cooperation between the authorities of both countries on the matter.

In 2024, Bangladesh police wrote to Putrajaya requesting the arrest and extradition of Aminul and businessman Ruhul Amin to facilitate investigations into alleged money laundering, extortion and migrant worker trafficking.

Bloomberg reported allegations that the two men played a vital role in a system that “fraudulently extorted money from the victims”.

Aminul’s lawyer denied the allegations raised in the letter to the Malaysian authorities.

Ruhul also denied the allegations through Catharsis International, a Dhaka-based recruitment firm that he owns, saying the company has “always been operating legally, legitimately and ethically”.