KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report has revealed that Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs) biometric facilities, worth RM10.3 million, were installed at detention depots nationwide to screen illegal immigrants.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin said PAC also found that the myIMMs biometric system was not installed in the county’s entry points as these locations used the National Enforcement and Registration System (NERS) biometric facility.
The NERS was developed under a concession agreement, worth RM912 million, for a period of 12 years.
“Since the two systems are different, the Immigration Department has to change equipment in the detention depots to the system that uses the dermalog technology so that the system at the country’s entry points can be read at the detention depots when illegals are brought there,” he said.
The PAC report on the implementation of the myIMMs system under the Home Ministry was uploaded on the Parliament of Malaysia website today.
According to the report, the initial explanation by the Auditor-General representative in the joint discussions with PAC recently, among others, stated the myIMMs had been supplied and paid for.
However it was not installed and adopted in any of the entry points to screen and confirm the identity of foreigners and Malaysians.
Meanwhile to enhance the effectiveness of the myIMMs biometric system, PAC in the same report recommended that the Home Ministry and Immigration pay attention to all biometric security aspects while the ministry must lodge police reports if they failed to detect the biometric equipment.
PAC also suggested that the ministry conduct thorough investigation and take stern action against those responsible for the loss of the equipment.
PAC was informed by Immigration that as of Nov 22 last year, 69 out of the 131 Sagem biometric readers were still in the process of being traced. — Bernama
