The Royal Malaysian Customs Department made one hell of a bust last Friday when they seized several supercars and other high-end vehicles worth RM12.2 million in Shah Alam, Selangor. 21 cars in total were seized from two car importing companies where they were found guilty of forging declaration documents in bringing them over into Malaysia.
According to a report posted by The Star Online, Datuk Azimah Hamid, Deputy Customs Department director-general, stated “In the first raid, we raided a warehouse in Shah Alam and seized eight vehicles, including two Mercedes-Benz CLS350, a BMW 525i, four Toyota Estimas and a Toyota Alphard. At the same time, we conducted a second raid at another warehouse in Shah Alam and seized six Lamborghini Huracans and seven Toyota Vellfires.”
The two car importing companies made a few wrong moves by filing false declarations regarding the vehicles’ year of manufacture. The newer cars like the beautiful Lamborghini Huracan were only around a couple of years old but in the documents, it was stated that they were produced around 2012 for the car companies to obtain lower tax rates.
Several other vehicles were also in breach of the import regulations as they were found to be over the five-year limit. “Under the import licence issued by the International Trade and Industry Ministry, only vehicles between one and five years old can be imported. Seven of the vehicles brought in by this company were less than a year old, while the others were over the five-year limit.”
If found guilty, the car importing companies can face a fine of 10 times the value of the vehicles of RM50,000 for their first offense but if they are repeated offenders, that can quickly shoot up to 20 times the amount or RM500,000 and/or five years in jail. Yikes.
Credit: The Star Online
