INVESTIGATIONS into the fake liquor licence scandal has unearthed a syndicate working hand-in-glove with Customs officials who charge between RM100,000 and RM200,000 for a genuine licence.

The licences to import liquor and cigarettes are fast-tracked by the syndicate, with the help of Customs officers, sources told The Malaysian Insight.

The syndicate help applicants get their import licence within a month when the normal waiting period is up to three months.

Investigators from the Customs Department’s intelligence unit said the syndicate comprise 10 locals with inside help at the department.

Active in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the syndicate is believed to have obtained 10 licences since the start of the year.

“The syndicate, working under the guise of a consultancy firm, assures applicants of the import licence which will be issued within a short period of time,” a source said.

“This guaranteed import licence scheme is just like how driving licence syndicates sell driving licences.

“The syndicate promises guaranteed liquor licence and the percentage of failure is very low, unless something is caught by the Customs Department’s intelligence unit.

“The syndicate’s work has also become easier with the Customs Department doing away with the face-to-face interview process with applicants at the headquarters.”

The department ended the face-to-face interviews to speed up the licensing process but the syndicate is taking advantage of it, the source said.

The intelligence unit detected some suspicious applications, the source added.

Eyebrows were raised when it detected a 21-year-old company director as applicant.

The applicant was a student who was promised RM1,000 a month for the use of his name as a director.

“If that licence had been approved, the syndicate would have used it to import cigarettes and liquor. And if action was to be taken against the company, it was the student who would have been hauled up,” he said.

There is also a case of a rubber tapper paid RM1,500 to be a director of a company which applied for a liquor import licence.

The source said the syndicate only needed the MyKad of an individual as they would be doing everything else to apply for the import licence, including setting up a company.

This syndicate’s activity was among the scandals unearthed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission while investigating corrupt Customs officials handling import licences.

On Monday, The Malaysian Insight reported that a liquor smuggler made about RM70 million over 10 months using a fake import licence allegedly issued by corrupt Customs personnel.

Sources told The Malaysian Insight the company is also said to have links with a senior Finance Ministry officer in the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

The problem of importers using fake documents became widespread after the amended Customs (Prohibition of Import) Order 2017 was enforced in April the same year.

The amendment requires liquor and cigarette importers to furnish their import licences when making a Customs declarations.

The aim was to tighten loopholes in the existing system but instead, it became easier to smuggle liquor and cigarettes.

Last month, it was reported that MACC was going after several top Customs officials for allegedly being involved in smuggling.

MACC earlier this year started monitoring six companies suspected of smuggling such goods. – May 17, 2019.