PUTRAJAYA: Six men, including five foreigners in their 30s, were arrested for alleged misappropriation of subsidised cooking oil at a premises in Taman Semenyih Jaya, Semenyih, Selangor.
Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) director-general (enforcement) Datuk Azman Adam said the raid, conducted at 4 pm yesterday, was the result of three months of intelligence.
The premises were used as an illegal store to transfer subsidised cooking oil from its packets into intermediate bulk container (IBC) tanks believed to be for resale to the industry, he said in a statement today.
Azman said four units of IBC tanks with 4,168 kg of cooking oil, boxes and plastic cooking oil packets that had been cut, all worth RM40,000, were seized.
The case is investigated under Section 21 of the Control of Supplies Act 1961 for possessing controlled goods with intent to commit an offence and the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Azman said the ministry will continue to intensify monitoring and enforcement to prevent quarters from taking advantage of the subsidised controlled goods.
Meanwhile, he said the ministry had recorded 94 cases and seized 104,447 kg of cooking oil worth RM109,000 in OPS TIRIS 3.0 as of Feb 28.
He said the action was part of the KITA GEMPUR initiative launched on Oct 19 last year to address the issue of manipulation in business activities and leakage involving controlled goods and subsidised controlled goods.
He also advised the public with information regarding the misappropriation of controlled and subsidised goods to report the matter via WhatsApp at 019-848 8000, the KPDN e-Complaint Portal, the KPDN call centre at 1-800-886-800 or the KPDN Ez ADU application.
