PUTRAJAYA: Graft-busters have arrested 12 Road Transport Department (JPJ) officers and personnel for corruption and abuse of power involving the issuance of some 14,000 driving licences.
Those held include a deputy director and assistant enforcement officers in JPJ offices in Perlis, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Sabah and Sarawak.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the arrests were made from Sept 4 to date, and viewed the act of power abuse among ministry staff as a serious offence.
"The JPJ personnel have used their position and had succumbed to corrupt practices to issue driving licences without following procedure.
"The ministry would like to congratulate the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for uncovering this bad practice. I leave it to the wisdom of the anti-graft officers to investigate the case and bring the culprits to justice," he said at a press conference on Thursday (Sept 13).
The said JPJ staff had apparently - for a certain "fee" - used their position to help those wanting to get hold of a licence by using the conversion of foreign driving licence procedure.
The syndicate is said to charge between RM2,000 and RM3,500 per licence and most of their "clients" are Malaysians and Chinese nationals.
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