KUCHING, Feb 5: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has suspended the licences of seven forwarding agents in the state for neglecting due diligence under Section 90 of the Customs Act 1967 since April last year.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy told a press conference this morning that these forwarding agents will have their licences suspended for six months, and upon conviction would have their licences revoked indefinitely.
He explained that the agents committed various offences including deliberately or inadvertently being involved in smuggling, falsifying documents, submitting incorrect declarations and furnishing falsified Customs official receipts among a few.
“We do not want to mention the names of the agents now, until their licences have been revoked. These forwarding agents when applying for licences with us should have adhered to Section 90 of the Customs Act 1967 where they should know who their clients are and what the clients are exporting or importing.
“Because they deal directly with clients, there should be no excuse for them not to know if their clients deal with contraband,” he said.
Subromaniam revealed that the seven Sarawakian forwarding agents were among the 31 nationwide which had their licences suspended for the same offences.
There are close to 3,000 forwarding agents in the country, and he revealed that after some investigation, he believed that some of these agents were working together with smuggling syndicates.
He issued a stern warning to these agents to comply with and adhere to Section 90 of the Customs Act 1967 or risk having their licences revoked on top of imprisonment. — DayakDaily
