PUTRAJAYA: A new system for keeping tabs on Customs agents will see them earning demerit points every time they commit an offence like tax evasion to the wrong use of codes among others.
The Customs Department is introducing the demerit system to ensure better compliance among agents.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said Customs agents who accumulated 20 demerit points could have their licences revoked if they failed to provide satisfactory reasons for their offences.
The system will come into effect on April 1.
“This system will allow us to evaluate the performance of our agents in a fairer and more systematic way.
“It will also help us to identify agents who have a habit of committing offences. The system will guide them to improve and if they do not, we will suspend or revoke their licences,” he said.
Khazali said agents who reached 20 demerit points would be issued a show-cause letter.
“Should they fail to give a satisfactory explanation, they could get their licence suspended or even revoked,” said Khazali at a new policy compliance seminar for Customs agents here.
Among the common offences committed by Customs agents are under-valuation of goods and wrong use of codes.
He said that out of the existing 2,600 Customs agents, about 70 had been punished in the past for those offences.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Johari Ghani, who opened the seminar, said the system would create a “level playing field” among businesses as there would be fewer tax evaders.
“It is not fair for one to be paying tax and for another to escape it. With a proper system like this in place, there will be a more level playing field,” said Johari.
The seminar was attended by about 900 Customs agents from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
