How Malaysian Immigration Officers Ran A Massive Corruption Scam (And Got Away Scot-Free)
By now most of you already know that the Malaysian immigration system was sabotaged by the very officers working to protect it. For which, the Immigration Department has fired 15 of its officers and several others have been either suspended or redeployed.
Prior to this, earlier in April and May, Officers from the Special Branch had conducted operations in the Klang Valley area, resulting in the arrests of 19 people involved in human trafficking syndicate. Among those arrested, there were 2 Malaysian Immigration Officers, IGP Khalid had revealed to the press.
The syndicate was trafficking migrants to Geneva, Switzerland.
While the syndicate would charge as much as RM60,000 to each migrant, the two arrested Immigration Officers working for the syndicate would ensure no issues for the migrants at their counters for a mere sum of RM150 to RM350 per migrant.
Following which, security at airports was tightened in the country.
An undated photo of a tourist going through the biometric procedure at the KLIA Airport.
Then on 18 May, it was also reported that there were many “loopholes” in the security screening system at our airports, which enabled the syndicate to take advantage of it.The Malay Mail Online reported that the Home Ministry was probing into it.
The Malay Mail Online quoted a ministry source as saying about Malaysia Immigration System (myIMMs), “It is believed the system may be downed deliberately, suggesting corruption. Those manning and operating the electronic screening of passengers — from the authorities to airline staff and employees of the system development company — are being investigated.”
It was the frequent “crashes” of the system that had raised serious questions about myIMMs ability to keep out would-be terrorists, people smugglers, and other criminals, the unnamed source had said, adding that the high number of ‘breakdowns’ also suggests that “many on watch lists could have gone under the radar.”
A doubt which was also raised by Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamad.
He had called into doubt the system’s ability to screen incoming foreigners due to its “embarrassingly” frequent glitches which allow foreigners to enter Malaysia through the Kuala Lumpur airports easily. The Star reported him saying that the security screening system, implemented by Heitech Padu for over two decades, would be upgraded.
Following which, some 100 people, including officials from the Immigration Department, were investigated by authorities and it was revealed that the Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs) could have been compromised as far back as 2010, The ST reported
On 31 May, following the investigation by the authorities, the Immigration Department fired 15 of its officers, who were among a total of 37 officers who were given “disciplinary action” over their role in the sabotage. The disciplinary action included 14 suspensions and 8 other had their salary increments frozen.
Immigration Department Director-General Sakib Kusmi was quoted by Malaysiakini that there are grounds to believe that the officers, some of whom have been with the department for more than a decade, may be linked to a human trafficking syndicate.
“They deal online. The instructions come from overseas. First, they have to access our system, then they can manipulate our system from outside. You can see this in our computers, the cursor moves, without someone operating it. These acts enabled traffickers to bypass immigration systems.
News source: Says.com, TheStar, Malay Mail, Straitstimes, MalaysiaKini