Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Customs Department director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy is set to retire tomorrow after 35 years in public service, according to Bernama.

Subromaniam said the most satisfying achievement of his time in the Customs Department was seeing through the smooth transition from the goods and services tax (GST) regime to the new sales and services tax one.

"This has been an awesome 35-year journey for me, as I oversaw the GST phase and now the SST. For GST, we had a considerably long time, that is nine years, to study the taxation system, to adjust processes and procedures. For SST on the other hand, we only had three months to implement it and the whole world was watching us.

"I can proudly say that we have done it [the transition] successfully. This is a moment of great achievement and satisfaction to me, because of the commitment of the top management and Customs officers," he was quoted as saying at a farewell ceremony at the department’s headquarters here today.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and top Customs officers also attended the event.

Subromaniam, who was previously the director in charge of GST implementation in the Customs Department, is confident that the new SST's collection this year would be able to surpass the targeted RM22 billion.

Though he did not specify any figures, he said his confidence is based on the commitment of the whole department, and the collection so far.

"Our economic indicators are solid. We know because we are one of the agencies that know about the status of the country's economy and handles the SST [collection]. I am confident it will surpass what has been targeted and this will be to the benefit of the people," he said.

Prior to his appointment as Customs DG, Subromaniam, 60, served as the deputy DG (compliance and enforcement), and the chief assistant director of the investigative division, and the director of investigation under the enforcement division.

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