Forensic audit being conducted on subsidised cooking oil manufacturers - Annuar

KOTA BHARU: The government is conducting forensic audits of all companies licensed to package subsidised cooking oil to ensure that none of them are involved in smuggling activities.

Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa said checks will be carried out to monitor the amount of raw material production and to analyse whether the methods currently used can be improved or revamped.

"I want to stress here that if all parties do not cooperate and (we) find that they are still smuggling subsidised cooking oil, then we have no choice but to revamp the entire system.

"But at the moment we have not taken that approach because we will investigate first. If possible we don't want to inconvenience those who want to invest in setting up factories because they already have their own network and so on," he said.

He told reporters this after visiting the Communications and Multimedia Ministry's Digital Carnival in conjunction with the Kelantan edition of the Keluarga Malaysia Aspiration Tour (AKM) at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium here today.

Annuar, who is also Minister of Communications and Multimedia, said that he will never allow a system that is too lax and which will cause leakages, adding that when this happens, the people are the ones who ultimately suffer.

"The government spent RM4 billion to cover the cost of raw material subsidy. So if that RM4 billion goes to Thailand or Indonesia, it is not fair to the people because the people's money must reach the people," he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had announced prior to this that the government will maintain the subsidy of RM4 billion for cooking oil in 1kg packets allocated for this year.

-- BERNAMA