Over 300,000 barred from leaving M'sia
Published on: Saturday, March 07, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: Some 326,533 Malaysians cannot leave the country for various reasons. Immigration Department Deputy Director-General (operations) Datuk Sakib Kusmi said those barred included Tan Sri, Datuk Seri and Datuk title holders, celebrities and chief executive officers (CEOs) of big companies.Many of them, he said, were barred either because they had been declared bankrupt for outstanding debts or had not paid income tax.Sakib said as of Jan 21, the data from 13 agencies revealed 682,994 – 326,533 Malaysians and 356,461 foreigners – were restricted from leaving the country.ADVERTISEMENT "There are indeed many cases of VIPs and VVIPs blacklisted. Most of them don't even know they have been blacklisted and have either forgotten to pay their income tax of failed to repay large bank loans."Some only learn about their travel status when they want to go pilgrimage. But they will not be given special treatment when they are detained and they will not be allowed to travel abroad until they clear matters pending with the respective agencies," he said.Blacklisted individuals, he said, would only be allowed to travel abroad if clearance was obtained from the respective agencies. Special cases would be considered if the applicant was able to provide the relevant agency with a satisfactory explanation.For example, he said, if a CEO who had been blacklisted for forgetting to pay his income tax had an important meeting to attend abroad and he made a special request to the Inland Revenue Board with the assurance that he would pay up when he returned, his application might be considered.ADVERTISEMENT Sakib said the names of those to be blacklisted were forwarded to the Immigration Department."Regardless of the case, if a department requests that an individual is blacklisted, we will comply to prevent those under investigation from leaving the country," he said, adding that the number of cases had increased over the years.
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The agencies, he said, resorted to barring defaulters from travelling abroad to compel them to settle outstanding dues or matters."Some are wanted by enforcement agencies. Some are put on the watch list following court orders. "Individuals are not barred at the whims and fancies of the Immigration Department."Sakib said the highest number of names of blacklisted Malaysians were forwarded by the Insolvency Department (189,780); followed by the Inland Revenue Board (78,158) for unresolved tax matters; and the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (29,398) for failure to repay education loans.He said the department had blacklisted 12,950 locals for flouting Immigration laws; some had lost their passports up to four times in a year and some had violated a foreign country's Immigration laws, such as by overstaying or abusing their travel visas.He said the more serious cases were from the police and Prisons Department, which had barred from travel 7,125 and 314 Malaysians respectively as law breakers were not permitted investigation or while serving a sentence."Among these are individuals involved or suspected to be involved in terrorism, cybercrime and cyber-terrorism."This group also has 3,360 foreigners' names given by the police and 12 names given by the Prisons Department."Sakib said the Employers Provident Fund had barred 7,104 Malaysian company directors for failure to pay arrears of workers' contributions.The Customs Department blacklisted 1,180 locals for smuggling and the courts and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission barred 409 and 69 Malaysians for criminal offences and graft, respectively.Bank Negara Malaysia barred 45 Malaysians and Securities Commission blacklisted one for criminal breach of trust. Sakib said to combat misuse of passports, the department was looking into imposing a heavier penalty and fine on those who frequently lose or mishandle their travel documents."Currently, those who frequently lose or damage their passports are put on our watch list or blacklist."Under the proposed plan, Malaysians who lose their passports more than once will be made to pay a hefty fine and wait for a longer period for a new one.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"This will serve to remind them to be careful with their documents."He said the current penalty for losing a passport was a wait of between two and five years for a replacement. Those who have lost their passports three times in a year will have the document suspended for five years.