Immigration head: ‘Missing’ biometric readers only worth RM140,000, not RM10.3mil

SERDANG: The Immigration Department has denied that the missing biometric screening equipment is worth RM10.3mil, as stated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Responding to the PAC report tabled at the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday, Immigration Department director Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the real value of the devices was only RM140,000.

"A total of 200 biometric devices were purchased. However, 69 were reported missing," he said.

"A report was immediately filed to alert the ministry and an investigation has been launched. We managed to find 11 so the exact figure is 58, not 69 as mentioned by the PAC.

"We followed standard operating procedure in handling the matter. Everything was done way before PAC asked the Home Ministry to take action," he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The investigation was still ongoing, Mustafar told a press conference after an excellent service award presentation ceremony at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park here.

Also present was Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

On Tuesday, PAC had urged the Home Ministry to probe what happened to the biometric equipment supposedly worth RM10.3mil.

In its report, PAC chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin said the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs) was supplied and paid for but was not in use at border checkpoints.

He was quoted saying: "If they (the ministry) fail to trace the equipment, we urge them to conduct a thorough investigation and take stern action against those responsible."

The PAC had found that instead of MyIMMs, a different system called the National Enforcement and Registration Biometric System (NERS) was adopted following approval by the ministry on Feb 8, 2011.

The PAC said the Immigration Department subsequently had to standardise the biometric system at detention depots as both MyIMMs and NERS used different technology and were not compatible.