Heavy price of fuel sale

JOHOR BARU: A petrol station owner has been fined RM40,000 at the Sessions Court here for allowing a foreign registered vehicle to fill up with RON95 petrol four years ago.

Phan Chib Chan, 59, pleaded guilty to the charge before iudge Datuk Che Wan Zaidi Che Wan Ibrahim yesterday.

According to the facts of the case, Phan failed to comply with the ban on the sale of RON95 petrol to foreign-registered vehicles.

The offence was committed at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak Susur 4, at 10.40am on May 13, 2019.

Phan had allowed a Singapore-registered vehicle to fill up 54 litres of RON95 petrol worth RM113.30, an offence under Regulation 12A of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974.

The offence comes under Section 22(1) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961, which carries a maximum RM1mil fine or three years in jail.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry deputy public prosecutors Muhamad Sabiq Muhamad Subri and Raja Nor Ikhlas Raja Ariff prosecuted the case while Lim Chon Sim represented Phan.

Muhamad Sabiq told the court that Phan had been previously been issued compounds for the same offence in 2014 and 2017.

Earlier, Che Wan Zaidi said in his judgment that the offence had been frequently reported along the country’s border and that the RM40,000 fine was intended to be a lesson to him and other petrol station owners.

Phan paid the fine.

Meanwhile, Johor Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo said it was investigating another 22 cases of RON95 being sold to foreign drivers.

“We are currently preparing the investigation papers as this is a very serious offence that has caused a huge loss to the country,” she said to reporters at the court lobby.

She added that six petrol station owners had already been fined RM10,000 each for the offence from January to March 20 this year.