KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Institute of Integrity (Integriti) has welcomed the Customs Department’s decision to suspend 20 forwarding agents nationwide next year.
Integriti president and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Anis Yusal Yusoff said the department had taken steps to instill a culture of integrity in its staff and improved its administration.
He noted that Customs director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy had said that the country lost RM2.5 billion in taxes and duties in the past three years, largely due to the counterfeiting of documents by the agents.
Anis added that Tholays also said the country lost RM1 billion this year alone due to uncollected taxes and goods worth RM731 million was smuggled into Malaysia.
Tholays had said that the agents were suspended based on the Demerit Point System, which was implemented in April. The system enables the department to monitor the compliance of forwarding agents.
“Losing billions of ringgit from the national income should be taken seriously by all parties,” he said.
“Under the cooperation between Integrity and Customs, the department has been using the Malaysian Integrity Profile (MIP) psychometric test during its recruitment process and it will be expanded to executive members as well.
“A holistic approach for all levels is important to ensure the effectiveness of the efforts to curb smuggling activities and address the issue of leakage of national income.”
Anis said Customs could not handle the issue of smuggling and tax revenue leakages alone.
He said forwarding agents and companies must also be responsible and play their part. He said they should not be allowed to simply prioritise profit-making.
Anis said Integriti would continue to support the Customs Department’s efforts to establish a high-integrity environment that would benefit Malaysia and its people.
He said the MIP psychometric test was used to evaluate an individual’s integrity in terms of personal quality and principles.
He noted that Customs was one of the agencies that had participated in the Enforcement Agencies Integrity Module programme that was introduced by Integriti last year.