KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): Royal Malaysian Customs Department deputy director-general (DG) for enforcement and compliance Datuk Haji Johari Alifiah said audit processes nationwide are still ongoing, despite the movement control order (MCO) that began on March 18 of this year.

In fact, he said all the national-level auditors have achieved the key performance indicators (KPIs) set for this year, in this month itself.

Speaking at the Deloitte Tax Max 46th Series webinar today, he noted that as much as RM812 million worth of revenue leakages was already detected for the first half of this year.

Notably, the revenue leakages reported last year was RM1.3 billion.

“In Malaysia, we admit it (revenue leakages), but we try to manage and organise through our auditors in order to reduce the revenue leakages,” said Johari.

“Our effort to curb the revenue leakages is ongoing and there are no obstacles amid the MCO,” he added.

Additionally, he stressed the importance of accurate custom classifications of imported goods, noting that it is a shared responsibility among the customs administration and the public.

For instance, he noted that there are some who import mixed goods into the country in a single container, but did not declare all items brought in.

Johari said smuggling of goods into the country is considered one of the tax violations that attack a country’s tax system and is a punishable offence that is justified in order to deter tax evasion practices.

“We have requested for the government to get all the working tools such as scanner machines and others, but we do understand the capacity of the government,” said Johari.

“If there is no scanner machine, the World Customs Organization has [advised] the use of risk assessment concepts such as border collaboration and frontline officers in the customs,” he added.