Murray Hunter
PMX Anwar Must Probe Why Trap the Messenger Helping to Fight Corruption?
M.KRISHNAMOORTHY
Mar 07, 2025
Malaysiakini’s Nantha Kumar’s bribe allegation story revelation deserves a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. Keep up the good work, Nantha and Malaysiakini. The fight for truth, justice and against corruption must continue. It’s time for Malaysiakini to raise funds in the event he is charged.
I write this comment to congratulate Nantha and other investigative journalists fighting corruption. It’s not an easy task. I have worked as an undercover journalist for about 30 years with the New Straits Times, The Star, Bernama and reported for CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera as a local producer for the networks investigative stories.
Malaysiakini must be congratulated for investigating the truth of the matter and setting up an independent panel of experts to ensure a fair process. “The findings of the inquiry will be made public, subject to legal guidance.”
Nantha’s expose is now an opportunity for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to fight corruption. He should set up a special task force to investigate the Government agencies that surreptitiously and secretly set up traps for reporters.
Anwar has openly declared to the media to expose corrupt officials in the Government. This comment asks many questions, the setting up PMO’s Task Force on Nantha’s case. As Anwar has urged journallists to fight corruption.
Nantha’s story was accurate, soul searching and stated the truth from his experience. You executed your job professionally.
Why was the messenger (Nantha) caught and NOT the corrupt workers’ agent who attempted to bribe him, who was not reprimanded? The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) has not disclosed information on the giver of the RM20,000 bribe.
Reports about the unfolding scandal of corruption among immigration officials have offered some answers to questions that the Government needs to study, review and prosecute corrupt officials.
Nantha’s fastidious reporting unearthed compelling evidence in the form and shape of rampant corruption in the immigration department. “From the outset, I want to make it absolutely clear that I did not solicit a bribe. For the record, I neither requested "RM100,000" nor negotiated the amount to settle for RM20,000,” Nantha clarified in his story detailing how the agent tried to bribe him.
On Feb 6, Natha said, he received information about a “Fly” syndicate operating at KLIA. “After conducting my investigation, I published my first report on Malaysiakini on Feb 19. (The ‘Fly’ syndicate involves falsifying immigration’s exit and entry stamps for foreign workers without their physical presence.) Despite a police report being lodged, the authorities failed to take firm action. My second report on Feb 22 exposed the involvement of Pakistani agents in this syndicate. Before publishing, I contacted the two named agents for their comments. One denied involvement, while the other did not respond. After the report was published, a senior officer from the Home Ministry and a state immigration director reached out to me for further information. I agreed to cooperate.”
These opening paragraphs allude and collude to the planning of setting up a trap for Nantha.
The questions to be asked are:
• Has the senior officer from the Home Ministry been questioned by the MACC?
• What was the purpose of the Immigration Director reaching out and has been questioned?
• Will the home minister and Immigration Director General clear their office names as Nantha mentioned them in his report?
• Why was the Immigration Department’s intelligence director trying to contact Nantha?
• Who set up the trap? Pakistani agent, MACC officer(s), or the Immigration Department officer(s)? PMO must probe to wipe out corruption.
• MACC refused to act on the journalist's exposé, or did they act on the allegations of the alleged foreign workers agents?
• They acted quickly despite there being no evidence. Why a 'sting operation' to trap and discredit the journalist?
In Nantha, the unfolding of the alleged corruption in immigration has offered some answers to questions to probe further, was this a grand plan to trap Nantha, who has been exposing scandals and stopping him from writing corrupt officials.
In Nantha’s words: “I would not have taken the trouble to share my information with these officers if my intention was to solicit bribes from the agents. On Feb 26, one of the Pakistani agents mentioned in my article contacted me to deny his involvement, and I offered to publish a rebuttal. He claimed that another person had approached him offering to "settle" the matter. I made it clear to him that I had never asked anyone to speak on my behalf. I later met the two Pakistani agents at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, which is registered under the name of a former high-ranking immigration officer.”
• What was the role of the former high-ranking immigration officer and who was that person?
• What was the reason for the Pakistani agents to contact Nantha and ask him to remove the articles?
“They offered me RM50,000 and were prepared to pay me RM20,000 on the spot. I firmly refused and made it clear that I am not for sale. After that meeting, I immediately went to the state immigration director’s office to discuss the case and compare our evidence. It was clear that these agents were involved in the syndicate, but the director was unable to take action due to a lack of financial transaction records as evidence.”
• Why was the State immigration director unable to take action?
• Was a syndicate involved with the Immigration officials?
(Many immigration officials were caught and are now serving sentences for corruption.)
He then asked me to engage with the agents again to help gather stronger evidence. I agreed to act as an “undercover agent” for him, Nantha narrated in his full story report.
Malaysiakini readers posed the question to me as I was writing this comment piece were the MACC oand Immigration officials jointly setting up a trap for Nantha?
• Immigration and MACC Director General have to answer these questions and the PMOs task force should get to the bottom of it in the probe?
• Despite Nantha helping to act as the undercover agent, it appears he was not aware he was being trapped. No. He was aware and fully went along with the undercover to investigate the story.
• Who is behind this huge corruption scandal? Why are authorities acting to protect the corrupt?
• Why has MACC not pursued the reports published in Malaysiakini? Why are journalists left to do the work of the police and MACC?
Malaysiakini editors knew Nantha as someone willing to take risks. “They have also advised me to be cautious, especially since I am dealing with syndicates that may go to great lengths to silence those who expose them.”
On why Nantha took the money, he said, “I took it either way as evidence to be handed to the state immigration director. Within seconds, more than a dozen MACC officers confronted me. Since writing the first article on this new syndicate on Feb 19, I never contacted these agents to ask for a bribe. It was these agents who repeatedly offered to bribe me. If I had wanted to profit out of this article, I could have contacted the “mastermind” before the initial story was published to ask for a hefty sum.
Nantha has been exposing syndicates related to migrant workers for more than a year, never profiting from them. He has written numerous exclusive articles on these syndicates.
I write this comment to congratulate Nantha and other investigative journalists fighting corruption. It’s not an easy task. I have worked as an undercover journalist for about 30 years with the New Straits Times, The Star, Bernama and reported for CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera as a local producer for the networks investigative stories.
Malaysiakini must be congratulated for investigating the truth of the matter and setting up an independent panel of experts to ensure a fair process. “The findings of the inquiry will be made public, subject to legal guidance.”
Nantha’s expose is now an opportunity for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to fight corruption. He should set up a special task force to investigate the Government agencies that surreptitiously and secretly set up traps for reporters.
Anwar has openly declared to the media to expose corrupt officials in the Government. This comment asks many questions, the setting up PMO’s Task Force on Nantha’s case. As Anwar has urged journallists to fight corruption.
Nantha’s story was accurate, soul searching and stated the truth from his experience. You executed your job professionally.
Why was the messenger (Nantha) caught and NOT the corrupt workers’ agent who attempted to bribe him, who was not reprimanded? The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) has not disclosed information on the giver of the RM20,000 bribe.
Reports about the unfolding scandal of corruption among immigration officials have offered some answers to questions that the Government needs to study, review and prosecute corrupt officials.
Nantha’s fastidious reporting unearthed compelling evidence in the form and shape of rampant corruption in the immigration department. “From the outset, I want to make it absolutely clear that I did not solicit a bribe. For the record, I neither requested "RM100,000" nor negotiated the amount to settle for RM20,000,” Nantha clarified in his story detailing how the agent tried to bribe him.
On Feb 6, Natha said, he received information about a “Fly” syndicate operating at KLIA. “After conducting my investigation, I published my first report on Malaysiakini on Feb 19. (The ‘Fly’ syndicate involves falsifying immigration’s exit and entry stamps for foreign workers without their physical presence.) Despite a police report being lodged, the authorities failed to take firm action. My second report on Feb 22 exposed the involvement of Pakistani agents in this syndicate. Before publishing, I contacted the two named agents for their comments. One denied involvement, while the other did not respond. After the report was published, a senior officer from the Home Ministry and a state immigration director reached out to me for further information. I agreed to cooperate.”
These opening paragraphs allude and collude to the planning of setting up a trap for Nantha.
The questions to be asked are:
• Has the senior officer from the Home Ministry been questioned by the MACC?
• What was the purpose of the Immigration Director reaching out and has been questioned?
• Will the home minister and Immigration Director General clear their office names as Nantha mentioned them in his report?
• Why was the Immigration Department’s intelligence director trying to contact Nantha?
• Who set up the trap? Pakistani agent, MACC officer(s), or the Immigration Department officer(s)? PMO must probe to wipe out corruption.
• MACC refused to act on the journalist's exposé, or did they act on the allegations of the alleged foreign workers agents?
• They acted quickly despite there being no evidence. Why a 'sting operation' to trap and discredit the journalist?
In Nantha, the unfolding of the alleged corruption in immigration has offered some answers to questions to probe further, was this a grand plan to trap Nantha, who has been exposing scandals and stopping him from writing corrupt officials.
In Nantha’s words: “I would not have taken the trouble to share my information with these officers if my intention was to solicit bribes from the agents. On Feb 26, one of the Pakistani agents mentioned in my article contacted me to deny his involvement, and I offered to publish a rebuttal. He claimed that another person had approached him offering to "settle" the matter. I made it clear to him that I had never asked anyone to speak on my behalf. I later met the two Pakistani agents at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, which is registered under the name of a former high-ranking immigration officer.”
• What was the role of the former high-ranking immigration officer and who was that person?
• What was the reason for the Pakistani agents to contact Nantha and ask him to remove the articles?
“They offered me RM50,000 and were prepared to pay me RM20,000 on the spot. I firmly refused and made it clear that I am not for sale. After that meeting, I immediately went to the state immigration director’s office to discuss the case and compare our evidence. It was clear that these agents were involved in the syndicate, but the director was unable to take action due to a lack of financial transaction records as evidence.”
• Why was the State immigration director unable to take action?
• Was a syndicate involved with the Immigration officials?
(Many immigration officials were caught and are now serving sentences for corruption.)
He then asked me to engage with the agents again to help gather stronger evidence. I agreed to act as an “undercover agent” for him, Nantha narrated in his full story report.
Malaysiakini readers posed the question to me as I was writing this comment piece were the MACC oand Immigration officials jointly setting up a trap for Nantha?
• Immigration and MACC Director General have to answer these questions and the PMOs task force should get to the bottom of it in the probe?
• Despite Nantha helping to act as the undercover agent, it appears he was not aware he was being trapped. No. He was aware and fully went along with the undercover to investigate the story.
• Who is behind this huge corruption scandal? Why are authorities acting to protect the corrupt?
• Why has MACC not pursued the reports published in Malaysiakini? Why are journalists left to do the work of the police and MACC?
Malaysiakini editors knew Nantha as someone willing to take risks. “They have also advised me to be cautious, especially since I am dealing with syndicates that may go to great lengths to silence those who expose them.”
On why Nantha took the money, he said, “I took it either way as evidence to be handed to the state immigration director. Within seconds, more than a dozen MACC officers confronted me. Since writing the first article on this new syndicate on Feb 19, I never contacted these agents to ask for a bribe. It was these agents who repeatedly offered to bribe me. If I had wanted to profit out of this article, I could have contacted the “mastermind” before the initial story was published to ask for a hefty sum.
Nantha has been exposing syndicates related to migrant workers for more than a year, never profiting from them. He has written numerous exclusive articles on these syndicates.
M. Krishnamoorthy is a media coach, adjunct professor, and undercover journalist. With decades of experience, he has contributed to major news outlets like Bernama, NST, and Malaysiakini. He also collaborates with international networks like CNN and the BBC. Visit https://krishnamoorthy-media-ak2vay7.gamma.site/ to learn more about his work.
No comments:
Post a Comment