PUTRAJAYA, Aug 24 — The previous administration opted to forego millions in revenue by appointing private firms to handle bidding for special vehicle registration numbers, said Anthony Loke.

During the press conference on the MALAYSIA registration series today, he said the private firms had kept the bulk of the money raised while the government only received RM1 million from each series.

"The MALAYSIA special plate series bidding collection of RM13.2 million may be higher than average, but imagine if we had about 30 number series in the past with an average leakage of RM5 million that is almost RM100 million in leakages,” he said.

Loke pointed out that RM3.6 million alone was collected from the total bid amount from the top 10 bidders of special Malaysia plates.

"The "V” and "F” plate series bidding conducted by the Road Transport Department (JPJ) had recorded sales of about RM22 million and RM17 million respectively.

"Clearly the previous minister has allowed such leakages to happen and this is why we have taken measures to plug those leakages so that the revenue collected will be channelled into the government coffer,” he said.

In June, Loke had said that past special plates were handled by non-government entities, which each only paid JPJ RM1million for the distribution rights.

Plates such as UP, G1G-G999G, X, XX, YY, UU, GTR, GG, SAM, K1M, T1M, A1M, US, SMS, NBOS and NAAM were introduced via the non-government organisations route.