Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution today asked Bangladesh to clarify the purpose of its request to extradite two businessmen -- Bestinet Sdn Bhd founder Aminul Islam and owner of Dhaka-based recruitment firm Catharsis International Ruhul Amin.

"Dhaka should explain whether Aminul and Ruhul were merely needed for questioning as part of an investigation or if they were to be charged in court… The extradition request did not reveal the purpose," he told journalists on the sidelines of an event, reports their local newspaper Free Malaysia Today.

He recommended using the "mutual legal assistance channel" if Bangladesh wishes to investigate the two or clarify if they want to frame charges against them, as the duo can only be extradited if charges are pressed against them.

The matter has been discussed with Malaysia's inspector-general of police, who will handle it in liaison with his Bangladesh counterpart, he added.

On October 24, Bangladeshi police sent a letter to Putrajaya, requesting the arrest and extradition of the aforementioned two to facilitate their probe into alleged money laundering, extortion, and trafficking of migrant workers.

Bangladesh's Interpol branch told its Malaysian counterpart that the duo had allegedly exposed their victims to physical and mental torture and played a vital role in a system that fraudulently extorted money from the victims through a computer software.

Bangladeshi police also requested the Malaysian government to halt the use of the software supplied by Bestinet.

Bestinet recently received a six-year contract to develop and maintain the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) extended by the Malaysian home ministry.

In July, Malaysian Public Accounts Committee revealed that Bestinet had access of 24 unauthorised users to FWCMS involved in approving applications for the intake of foreign workers. The 2022 Auditor-General's Report also found that there was no signed agreement between the government and Bestinet for the supply of the system.