No KPDNHEP officers involved in illegal imported meat case

PUTRAJAYA: No enforcement officers from the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) were involved in the illegal imported frozen meat case, which was busted in Senai, Johor recently, said its enforcement director Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman.

Therefore, he said that no internal investigations should be conducted against them related to the case as the importing process is not under the ministry’s purview.

He said that the ministry was involved in the investigation into the illegal import frozen meat case due to the misuse of the word halal and other labels used in the transactions of the companies involved.

“The investigations are not related to the halal certificate but more to the use of the halal word on the imported meat, whether the permission was issued by the relevant authorities,” he told reporters at an event in conjunction with his retirement yesterday.

He said that the ministry’s enforcement officers nationwide have been instructed to investigate where the meat was distributed or whether it was resold to individuals or to restaurants.

“The case is still under investigation to find out where the meat was being distributed. They are currently being traced by the ministry’s officers based on invoices.

"If they are found to have been sold to restaurants and stored in chillers, the meat will be confiscated,” he said.

Iskandar Halim will go on mandatory retirement today after serving the public for almost 40 years; he was appointed as the enforcement director last year.

Among his contributions were to improve enforcement logistics, and empowering and leveraging the scope of the Money Laundering Act (AMLA) in the legislation enforced by the ministry.

The ceremony was attended by Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi, his deputy Datuk Rosol Wahid and the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad.

-- BERNAMA