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SHAH ALAM (Bernama): The Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs foiled an attempted diversion of 18,000 kg of cooking oil, of which 8,775 kg were subsidized 1 kg packages.
The director of the ministry of Selangor, Muhammad Zikril Azan Abdullah, said that raids carried out on two stores in Puchong revealed that the embezzlement activity was carried out by cutting the packages of 1 kg of subsidized cooking oil and by transferring them to a paddle tank to be bottled in 2kg and 5kg and sold for higher prices.
He said four residents and a foreigner, suspected of being an Indonesian, aged 30 to 50, identified as the owners of the premises were arrested to help with the investigation.
He added that two trucks, a pallet tanker, a forklift, 1 kg cut-up plastic packages and bottles of cooking oil used to make the transfer were confiscated. The value of these items is 245,000 RM.
“Based on the documents found, the subsidized cooking oil was supposed to be distributed to wholesalers and licensed retailers around the Klang Valley. However, these were diverted and taken to the target location to be repackaged in bottles before being distributed in the domestic market and suspected of being smuggled into a neighboring country, â€he said in a press release today.
He said preliminary evidence from the owners of the business revealed that the premises had been operating since the start of this year and that they had received around 50,000 subsidized packages (1 kg) per month from approved suppliers around the Valley of Klang to be distributed to wholesalers and retailers, but had embezzled for illegal profit.
Muhammad Zikril Azan said further investigations will continue and the wholesaler’s license will be suspended pending the investigation process.
Muhammad Zikril Azan added that the ministry would conduct a more detailed investigation to find the brains behind the activities that resulted in losses of millions of ringgits due to the diversion of subsidized cooking oil. – Bernama
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