The owners of said luxury cars are also under investigation by the MACC
Well, at least its good to know that there is still never a boring day in Langkawi. Often considered a tax haven for many Malaysians who wish to own luxury cars and supercars which, due to how taxes work in other states in the country, are too expensive. Langkawi is now under fire for just that.
Yes, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has nabbed six members of a syndicate suspected to be involved in a Langkawi luxury car duty evasion scheme that cost the government RM33 million. Yea that is no small amount. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Moreover, the six detainees are expected to be charged in court from today with more than 21 charges under Section 471 of the Penal Code for forgery of a document with intention of cheating, senior director of the MACC’s special operations Division Datuk Azmi Kamaruzaman told Utusan Malaysia.
Section 468 of the same law also stipulates a maximum sentence of up to seven years in jail and a fine for those convicted. So this is shaping up to be truly exciting news and could even have major implications on the automotive landscape in the future as if things like this continue to happen, Langkawi may eventually adopt similar tax laws to the rest of Malaysia.
Meanwhile the six operators are reported to be managers and runners of a car warehouse in Langkawi stores luxury cars, while the owners of the Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley, McLaren and Rolls Royce vehicles seen in the images are under investigation as well.
On top of that, Azmi also said, “The MACC is also investigating the vehicle owners under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA) for possessing and disposing of proceeds from these serious criminal activities.”
According to Utusan, seven people were initially arrested in July 2023 in ‘Op Eagle’ after the Auditor-General’s 2022 report disclosed a loss of RM72 million in duty collection for over 100 luxury vehicles from the Langkawi customs department between 2012 and 2021.
The MACC then uncovered a syndicate said to be conspiring with luxury car owners to gain exemptions and duty deductions despite being ineligible, and had supposedly submitted forged statutory declarations of vehicle ownership to customs. The first phase of Op Eagle saw the commission confiscate nine luxury cars worth around RM12 million from the northern part of the country, Johor and Sabah.
We got all this from Paul Tan.org and their full article is linked here. Thank you Paul Tan.org for the information and images.
