PENAMPANG: The Road Transport Department (RTD) personnel and officers are not involved in syndicates selling cloned vehicles, said its director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad.
He said car cloning was done by organised groups and there was no misconduct among the RTD staff.
“Cloned vehicles are not registered with the department therefore the details are not listed in the system.
“This is entirely the work of syndicate members who use fake road tax, registration numbers, and insurance to deceive the people,” he said after launching the state-level RTD Day here, yesterday.
As of Thursday, Ismail said five owners had surrendered their cloned luxury vehicles to the department.
The vehicles were a BMW, a Mercedes Benz, a Lexus, and three Honda Odyssey. The vehicles were picked up in the Klang Valley area.
“We advise owners who have bought cloned cars to hand over their vehicle to avoid a heavy penalty,” Ismail said.
He said, failing to do so, owners could face more penalties under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act and Road Transport Act 1987 if they were arrested.
So far, 167 cloned luxury cars valued at more than RM13 million were recently confiscated in the first phase of a joint operation between RTD and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Terengganu and Negri Sembilan.
Ismail said there were no cloned vehicle cases in Sabah and Sarawak yet.
Sabah RTD director Mohd Shuhaili Mohd Taufek has directed all personnel and officers to inspect all vehicles.
“So far there is no record of such cases but we will continue to check all cars, including motorcycles, across the state.”
Ismail said the department was moving towards a more people-friendly approach and would continue to engage with children to promote road safety awareness.