A leading Malaysian reporter caught in a hotel raid allegedly accepting bribes to drop an investigation into a migrant-trafficking syndicate at Kuala Lumpur International Airport has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Malaysia has seen trafficking syndicates and corruption linked to its labour demands for migrant workers, with its main airport often in the spotlight of scandals, including last year when thousands of Bangladeshi migrants arriving on fake job offers were forced into illegal work and overstay. B. Nantha Kumar, 42, a senior reporter at prominent local online outlet Malaysiakini, was arrested on February 28 at a hotel in Shah Alam by officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on suspicion of soliciting and accepting a 20,000 ringgit (US$4,500) bribe from alleged traffickers in return for taking down
