AI Brief
- Two individuals have been remanded to assist in an investigation into a major smuggling syndicate at Port Klang.
- A special task force led MACC detained 19 container lorries suspected of carrying smuggled untaxed goods.
- The syndicate, which had been operating for over a decade, employed more than 10 forwarding companies to smuggle goods through falsified tax declarations.
- Sources say the syndicate, believed to be led by a foreign male with an overseas office, has been handling around 3,000 containers monthly. The estimated tax evasion is RM3.5 billion.
In a recent operation in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, a special task force led by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Royal Malaysian Customs Department, and the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia detained 19 container lorries suspected of carrying various types of smuggled untaxed goods without proper inspections.
According to sources familiar with the case, the syndicate, which had been operating for over a decade, employed more than 10 forwarding companies to smuggle goods through falsified tax declarations. "The result of the investigation conducted over three months found that the modus operandi of this syndicate involved using various forwarding companies registered under the names of individuals who were unaware of the import and export transactions," said the source.
"This was done to deceive the authorities and enable syndicate members to evade any actions against them by claiming they had no connection to the said companies."
The syndicate, believed to be led by a foreign male with a main office located overseas, has been handling around 3,000 containers monthly. The estimated tax evasion over this period is RM3.5 billion based on a minimum tax of RM7,000 for each container, the source said. "To avoid taxation, the syndicate made false declarations using Customs Form 9, by declaring non-taxable items like wheelchairs and medical supplies."
The investigation also revealed that these 'flying containers' had entered the Public Licensed Warehouse at the Northern Port for a short time without proper customs checks before being distributed throughout the country.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed the remand of the two suspects. The four-day remand until June 8 was granted by Putrajaya Magistrate's Court on Monday (June 5). Azam said that a thorough investigation is underway under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Customs Act 1967 and the Inland Revenue Board Act.
"MACC welcomes the co-operation from the Director-General of Customs and hopes that department heads will take similar steps to curb corruption and losses within their agencies.
"We have identified the individuals of the parties involved, including the mastermind believed to be overseas, the company owners, forwarding agents, and customs officers colluding with this syndicate, and we will detain them in the near future.
"We will also seek assistance from foreign agencies to obtain information on the accounts owned by the main mastermind so that appropriate actions can be taken," he said.
This operation follows a previous success by the MACC, which dismantled another smuggling and tax evasion syndicate at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal (KLIA) Cargo in Sepang, with tax losses estimated at RM2 billion over the past three years.
