PUTRAJAYA, Sept 13 ― The Transport Ministry will not tolerate corruption within its ranks, Anthony Loke Siew Fook declared today after announcing the arrest of 12 Road Transport Department (RTD) staff for suspected involvement in the issuance of “lesen terbang”.

The minister said the 12 comprised of a deputy director, two assistant enforcement officers, two assistant enforcement chiefs, six enforcement assistants and one administration assistant from Perlis, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Sabah and Sarawak starting from September 4.

“Lesen terbang” refers to the driver’s licence issued to those who did not take the required examination.

“Those who have obtained their licences without going through the proper channel have also been called to assist with investigations,” Loke said in a press conference here.

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Loke said his ministry will extend its full cooperation to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police.

Elaborating on the modus operandi of the syndicate, Loke said it starts from “runners” who promote the service on social media accounts to get clients.

The “runner” then deals with the RTD officer to work on the issuance of the licence and the clients makes half of the payment amount.

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He said each licence is sold for between RM2,000 and RM3,500.

“RTD staff will process the licence applications by using the international conversion licence procedure, as though the applicant has had a driver’s licence in another country. But our checks revealed that these individuals never have visited or worked in any foreign country or have they ever had a driver’s licence of another country,” he said.

Loke said as soon as the process is completed, the RTD will record it in the system and that will enable a genuine licence to be issued and the “runner” will then send the licence to their client by post upon receiving the balance payment from the client.

“We have identified one RTD branch office was carrying out the licence conversion; thus, now we have decided that all licence conversion can only be done at the state RTD office.

“The syndicates are promoting their services openly on the social media, like they are challenging the authorities,” he said.

Not discounting the possibility that there could be more RTD officers involved in the syndicate, he said the ministry has the left the matter to the investigative bodies.

“The licences are genuine but they are not obtained via the proper channels,” he said.

“In the case of 12 who were arrested and are out on bail, they may not have been charged in court but I have instructed that they be suspended from their duties. This is to send a strong message to the others in the department that we will not tolerate such acts,” he said.

Loke said such syndicates are not only causing the government to lose its income but also brings a negative image to the county.

“Even worse is we have drivers who have not attended any driving lessons and therefore endangering other motorists,” he said.