Four S'gor immigration officers arrested for falsifying information in passport applications

Four Selangor Immigration Department officers, two of whom are women, were arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly submitting receipts containing falsified Persons With Disabilities (OKU) information in the applications of Malaysian Passport.

According to source, all suspects, aged between 31 and 39, were picked up at the Selangor Immigration office at 3.30 pm yesterday.

All of them have been remanded until Jan 15 to facilitate further investigations into the case under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009.

"They were believed to have received the applications and issued valid receipts according to the valid procedures, but have changed the applicants' information in the system (from normal applicants) to OKU without the applicants' knowledge.

"The suspects then pocketed the application fee of RM200 paid by the normal applicants because there is no application fee for OKU," he told Bernama.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (Operation) Datuk Azam Baki, when contacted, confirmed the arrest.

Azam also did not dismiss the possibility that the same offence was being committed at other Immigration offices across the country.

"This matter cannot be viewed lightly as it is detrimental to the government," he said.

The suspects were alleged to have committed the offence since 2014 and that their clandestine activity was disclosed after the department carried out an internal audit.

It is learnt that over 100 passport applications had been falsified and that the department had suffered losses of almost RM1 million in Selangor alone. -- Bernama