Swapan, Amin's lavish life built on workers' blood and sweat

A transnational racket, led by a former leader of Bangladesh’s recruiting agencies, has siphoned off thousands of crores of taka from aspiring migrant workers by luring them with false promises of overseas jobs.

Victims, many of whom sold ancestral land or family jewellery, were left penniless and stranded, while the masterminds now enjoy lavish lives abroad.

One of the key figures behind this racket is Ruhul Amin Swapan, former secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA). Together with his close associate Aminul Islam bin Amin Noor, alias Dato Sri Amin—a Malaysian citizen of Bangladeshi origin—and several collaborators, he formed an international labour market syndicate.

Investigations reveal that this syndicate has constructed lavish residences abroad with workers’ hard-earned money. In Bangladesh, they built luxurious houses and flats in Dhaka and other major cities and established multiple companies. In mid-2022, a new window for sending workers from Bangladesh to Malaysia opened.

From the very beginning, complaints surfaced that a syndicate was attempting to monopolise the process—engineered largely by Ruhul Amin Swapan and Dato Sri Amin.

From middleman to empire of corruption

Swapan left his native village in the 1980s and came to Dhaka. Early in his career, he worked as a broker at a recruiting agency and also took up a peon’s job for steady income.

Later, he established his own recruiting agency, Catharsis International, but due to irregularities like sending workers to fake companies, he had to frequently change office locations.

In 2005, he teamed up with Dato Sri Amin. Together, they created a fake visa syndicate. In 2007–08, they sent thousands of workers to Malaysia under the names of fictitious companies. Many were abandoned at Kuala Lumpur Airport upon arrival. As a result, the Malaysian labour market shut down for Bangladesh. Later, Swapan acquired 20% shares of Bestinet to facilitate money laundering under the guise of recruitment. In collusion with Amin Noor, they formed a syndicate of 100 agencies to send workers to Malaysia.

A survey by US-based Verité Incorporated and four other organisations revealed that while the government-fixed migration cost per worker was Tk79,000, the syndicate charged an average of Tk544,000—extorting an additional Tk494,180 per worker.

Through this unlawful means, the syndicate embezzled an estimated Tk25,000 crore, of which at least Tk7,500 crore was pocketed by the Swapan-Amin group under the guise of “commissions”.

Luxury homes and foreign assets

Swapan has built a 9-storey luxury home in the diplomatic zone of Baridhara, Dhaka, valued at nearly Tk140 crore. He also owns three houses in Banani worth around Tk250 crore, including a 12-storey building on Road 12 and properties on Road 22 and 13/C.

Sources say his younger brother lives in one of these homes.

He has also bought properties in newly developed areas like Banasree. One such 7-storey building in H-block is estimated to be worth Tk17 crore. Additionally, in Uttara’s Sector 4, he built a house via his company, Catharsis Development, worth approximately Tk35 crore.

Swapan's group, Catharsis, has developed property on 240 kathas of land on Madani Avenue in Vatara, Dhaka, with a market value in the hundreds of crores. He also established Catharsis Hospital in Tongi’s Shilmun area and owns about 100 bighas of land in various residential areas under both his and proxy names.

Besides owning assets worth thousands of crores in Bangladesh, Swapan has investments and properties in Dubai, Malaysia, London, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. He owns flats in Dubai, Malaysia, and London, and even a date orchard in Saudi Arabia.

Since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, he has been residing with his family in Toronto, Canada, where he bought a house in the Parkdale area worth around Tk25 crore. He also owns another house in Mississauga and drives multiple cars—reportedly choosing them to match the colour of his clothes.

Due to his close ties with high-ranking Awami League ministers and MPs, no action was taken against him during the last regime.

However, recent investigations by the ACC and NBR have made progress. Several agencies have traced money laundering and overseas transfers. According to records, by 2023, Swapan laundered at least Tk123 crore to Malaysia, Dubai, and the UK.

Dato Amin’s empire in Malaysia

Driven by poverty, Dato’ Sri Amin migrated from Brahmanbaria to Malaysia in the 1990s. Although not academically accomplished, he was shrewd. Soon, he became involved in passport forgery and other crimes, building a syndicate to illegally bring Bangladeshis into Malaysia with tampered documents. He served multiple jail terms in Malaysia.

His rise began after a scandal involving 500 forged passports. In 2007–08, he sent thousands of Bangladeshis to Malaysia on fake visas, only to abandon them. Many ended up in jail and returned home empty-handed, leading the Malaysian government to suspend worker intake from Bangladesh. But by then, Dato Amin had already siphoned off hundreds of crores of taka. With that wealth, he acquired Malaysian citizenship and the honorary title of "Dato’ Sri." He continued his operations in 2016 and again in 2022, stealing thousands of crores through similar syndicates.

Investigations revealed that funds embezzled through Swapan were transferred to Malaysia using Amin's 19 companies, including Bestinet IT Solutions, Bestinet Payment Services, and Solace Asia. Due to his cunning, the Malaysian authorities have yet to take action against him.