A day before former human resources minister M Saravanan was charged on Friday (August 28) with receiving bribes amounting to RM1.097 million to approve foreign worker quotas, he publicly trumpeted how he had written to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday about what he called the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) “wild and baseless” allegations”.
It was a preemptive measure to create a perception that not only he was innocent, but also to align himself with the Prime Minister – hoping to enjoy special immunity and to intimidate the judiciary. Shedding crocodile tears, he claimed certain individuals were allegedly coerced into implicating him, and that neither he nor his family was personally involved in recruiting foreign workers.
However, by dragging Anwar into his personal corruption charges, it has actually done more harm than good. Saravanan’s public announcement seeking help from Anwar would create a narrative that the PM could pull strings to help the ex-HR minister escape prosecution by using his power, influence and connections to pressure both the Judicial and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
Saravanan’s tactical error saw PM Anwar distancing himself, saying he has yet to receive the so-called letter from the former HR minister and would refer it to the MACC, the AGC, or the relevant authorities for consideration. If Mr Saravanan still hasn’t realized that he is being “targeted by design, and not coincidence” in the latest political manoeuvre, then he is stupider than he looks.
Yes, like former Lembaga Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim and former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who were arrested, handcuffed, and detained by the MACC in the investigations of Tabung Haji scandal, Saravanan is joining the party because the Madani government needs to impress upon voters about its anti-corruption drive before the next 16th General Election.
Pleading not guilty to three charges of corruption, 58-year-old Saravanan – who is also deputy president of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of Barisan Nasional, which is part of Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government – is accused of receiving the money on three occasions to approve applications for a quota of 1,000 foreign workers for Kuala Lumpur-based firm TYKB Engineering Sdn Bhd.
According to the first and second charges, Saravanan received kickbacks of RM150,000 and RM350,000 in cash from Vectica Resources director Tan Teck Lim via Syed Amirul Syed Ahmad at Bukit Jalil Golf & Country Resorts and at Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar, on June 16 and July 7, 2022. For the third charge, he received RM597,000 through a cheque from the same person, deposited into a Big Seven Ventures bank account at Maybank Jalan Klang Lama, Taman Desa, on July 7, 2022.
Saravanan Murugan, the Member of Parliament for Tapah since 2008, was appointed as the Secretary in MIC Federal Territory by former MIC president Samy Vellu in 1997. He had also served as deputy ministers under Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak administrations. It was not until 2020 that he was made a full minister – Minister of Human Resources – that came with “golden opportunities”.
Born and raised in gang-infested Sentul, it wasn’t hard for Saravanan to click with the big boss of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the corrupted Barisan Nasional coalition. After all, Samy Vellu was the infamous Godfather of Indian gangsters in the 1980s and 1990s, who served under the Mahathir leadership during his 22-year-iron-fist rule (1981-2003).
When Tamil Malar Daily exposed in 2017 how Mr Saravanan stole from the rental collection of the state MIC building, the then-Deputy Youth and Sports Minister brought mobsters to the media office and beat up its General Manager and staff. The attacks saw journalists and employees of the newspaper company left bleeding, injured and even suffered some broken teeth.
But unlike Bollywood movies, there was no happy ending for the poor owner and staff of the Tamil Malar Daily. The despicable MIC leader was as untouchable as former Prime Minister Najib, who himself had stolen billions in the 1MDB scandal before he lost power in the May 2018 General Election, and whose political party – UMNO – had ruled the country almost uninterrupted since independence in 1957.
Also known as “Ganja Saravanan”, he had never been arrested, let alone prosecuted, but was let go with a slap on the wrist – until now. As Human Resource Minister under the illegitimate backdoor PM Muhyiddin Yassin (March 2020-August 2021) and PM Ismail Sabri (August 2021-November 2022), the MIC deputy president boldly enriched himself through corruption and money laundering.
In fact, Saravanan was so corrupt that he actually did not deny the involvement of MIC members in the misappropriation of funds from “PenjanaKerjaya” involving a total of RM100 million. The programme-turned-scandal, under Muhyiddin’s National Economic Recovery Plan, offered financial incentives of between RM600 and RM1,000 to employers for each employee or apprentice employed for up to six months.
But the biggest “dirty money” machine was the hiring of foreign workers into the country. On June 16, 2022, Saravanan said that Bangladesh and Malaysia had agreed to a limit of 25 agencies to recruit Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia. However, the next day, Bangladesh’s Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad rubbished the statement.
Mr Imran had also clarified that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both countries did not mention anything about 25 agencies. Worse, despite admitting that there was a surplus of illegal Bangladeshi workers in the country, Saravanan had pushed to bring in more Bangladeshis. And the disgraced human resource minister deliberately set a limit of 25 agencies to create monopoly.
The clueless, incompetent and corrupt regime of Muhyiddin saw the cost of hiring foreign workers shot up from about RM16,000 to RM20,000 per worker because various agencies involved had to “share the money at different levels”. The cost of hiring was incredibly ridiculous that Bangladesh had refused to send any workers in 2020 – till a transparent system was in place.
The Bangladeshi government wanted the Malaysian government to connect to their online system to detect irregularities, but was declined. If the Malaysian labour market is allowed to link directly to the Bangladeshi system, it would kill syndicates and middlemen, ending the monopoly and corruption. It’s not rocket science why Saravanan rejected it – he was on top of the food chain of the lucrative market.
To get an idea of how lucrative the business has made Saravanan and his cronies mega rich, look no further than the operation carried out by a Multi-Agency Task Force (MATF) led by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 24, 2023. Over RM38 million cash and 200kg of gold worth over RM60 million were seized along with 17 luxury vehicles such as Ferrari and Maserati.
Involving the police, Immigration Department, Customs Department, Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank), Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) as well as Cyber Security Malaysia (CSM), the special operation saw raids carried out in 34 locations in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor involving 315 officers. The man behind the crimes was “Dato Malik”, the proxy and bag carrier for Saravanan.
Abdul Malik Dasthigeer, commonly known as “Dato Malik”, was the trusted lieutenant of the former human resource minister entrusted to launder dirty money from the Bangladeshi recruitment business. Also known for distributing Indian movies and bringing in artists from India to perform Tamil concerts in Malaysia, Malik was arrested and grilled by the MACC.
Also arrested was businessman-cum-politician “Datuk V Saravanan Kumar”, who was linked to former ruling party Bersatu, and “Datuk Shafee Zaman”, owner of Tamil newspaper Nanban. More than 30 suspects had been identified by the anti-corruption agency, busting a syndicate involved in corruption, smuggling, money laundering, and illegal tax evasion.
Crucially, the MACC had also frozen funds amounting to RM500 million linked to Malik. If this crook has in his possession RM500 million, imagine the real wealth of ex-minister Saravanan? There’s a reason why Saravanan was known as “Ganja Saravanan”. In 2021, Malik was exposed by a local newspaper as not only a criminal involved in the illegal smuggling business, but was also a drug dealer.
Yes, the MIC gangster did not become a multi-millionaire (or even a billionaire) from his venture into an agricultural business – coconut cultivation – as he would like the people to believe. Rather, it was his venture into illegal businesses, using Dato Malik as his proxy and cover, and links to underground Mafia that made him super-rich, so much so he believed he could buy his way out with money.
However, the arrogant politician will not be able to count on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to bail him out this time. Saravanan was a traitor – one of Barisan Nasional MPs who had signed the Statutory Declaration to support rival Bersatu president Muhyiddin as prime minister after the 15th General Election that produced a hung Parliament in November 2022..
Not only had Saravanan betrayed the leadership of UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, but he had shown that he was an untrustworthy ally of Anwar-led Unity Government. In December 2022, he deliberately went out for lunch and did not return for the counting of votes in the deputy speaker election, causing Alice Lau of Pakatan Harapan to receive only 146 votes instead of 148 two-thirds majority votes.
Like former premier Najib Razak, who had been sent to prison for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering, Saravanan is another shameless crook who did not blink twice about stealing RM19 million disbursed for a chilli planting programme to Yayasan NAAM (New Affirmative Action Movement), a foundation led by himself.
Clearly, both Anwar and Zahid have no problems hanging Saravanan to dry. The Premier, desperate to boost his credential after he led Pakatan Harapan coalition to three crushing defeats in the Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, hopes to reverse negative perception about his empty promises on reforms and anti-corruption by charging big sharks like Saravanan.
Zahid, meanwhile, hopes sacrificing Saravanan, not that the MIC leader was clean in the first place, could similarly arrest a decline in public trust in the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition due to systemic and deeply entrenched perceptions of institutional corruption and crony capitalism. It would also serve as a good distraction to UMNO’s past roles in the Tabung Haji corruption and Ponzi scheme scandals.
Interestingly, Syed Amirul Syed Ahmad, who was named in the charge sheets, had passed away. It doesn’t matter if Saravanan would eventually walk away a free man (he was not made to wear the MACC’s orange suit like Azeez and Serigar) in the political theatre. By the time his trial is over, which would take years, both Anwar and Zahid would have already milked Saravanan’s corruption for votes needed to win elections. Don’t hold your breath until the MIC gangster joins Najib in prison.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Why Hadi Wanted To Hide Tabung Haji’s Corruption & Ponzi Scheme
- How UMNO Bankrupted Tabung Haji, Cover Up With Ponzi Scheme
- RM38 Million Cash & 200kg Gold Seized – How MIC Gangster Saravanan Became Super Rich In Foreign Workers Scandal
- More Prison Time For Ex-PM Najib – Jasmine Loo Is Set To Sing Like A Canary As Witness In 1MDB Scandal
- Corruption Scandal – How Anti-Corruption Chief Azam Baki’s Half-Baked Story Backfires & Implicates Him Even More
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- UMNO-Malay Cheated Malay Felda Settlers – How RM870 Million Was Stolen To Build Only 7% Of 20,000 Houses
- Serial Liar Hadi Trapped!! – Anwar Declares PAS Paid RM1.4 Million To Sarawak Report
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- 2 Million Muslims Scammed – Court Settlement Proves “Holy Man” Hadi Took RM90 Million Bribes
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August 29th, 2026 by financetwitter
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