AT least six companies suspected of abusing their import licences to smuggle liquor and cigarettes into the country are being monitored by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), sources said.

These companies, they said, are allegedly working with Customs Department officers to avoid paying excise duties.

“MACC is looking at six such companies which seem to have import licences but don’t have any valid premises. They are all under observation now,” a source from the anti-graft agency told The Malaysian Insight.

These companies are operating out of the Klang Valley.

MACC’s interest in the matter came about after other sources from Customs revealed that some high-level officers are aiding these companies to smuggle liquor and cigarettes by approving new import licences in exchange for cash.

The Customs source said there are about 500 new applications pending for new import licences, adding that the applicants are new, without any capital nor any permanent premises.

“And they are allowed to import liquor and cigarettes worth millions of ringgit. These companies exist only in name.

“After getting their licences, these companies bring in cigarettes and liquor from other countries into duty-free zones on the pretext of exporting the items to other destinations overseas.

“But the contraband is then smuggled into the Malaysian market, without paying any duty. This they do with the help of several Customs officers.

“The companies involved will wind up after making millions of ringgit in profit, only to resurface later, using a different name and a separate board line-up,” said the source.

This method of smuggling in liquor and cigarettes only became popular in the last two years, after the Customs (Prohibition of Import) Order was amended in 2017.

The amendment made it compulsory for liquor and cigarette importers to show their import licences when declaring their goods at Customs checkpoints.

The source said new companies which never paid excise duty before are granted approval to import liquor for between six months and a year, a privilege not even given to genuine players.

There are some genuine companies in the business for more than two decades but are only given import licences for three months, he said. This despite them having paid billions of ringgit in excise duty for alcohol.

“Where is the Customs Department’s transparency on cigarette and liquor import licences?

“New applications are charged ‘coffee money’ of between RM30,000 and RM50,000 by state Customs Department officials who support the applications.

“What is even more worrying is that even companies which have court cases related to import activities are still being given new licences.” – March 23, 2019.