JOHOR BARU – The Johor office of the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry reported having received 22 complaints on the sale of the subsidised RON95 petrol to foreign-registered vehicles this year up to yesterday.
Its director, Lilis Saslinda Pornomo, said today the office was completing the investigation papers prior to prosecution.
She said the office views the matter seriously because it has resulted in a loss of national revenue.
Lilis said the complaints were received through the ministry’s social media, e-complaints, WhatsApp and telephone calls.
“The Johor office had taken proactive action by conducting daily monitoring and continuous inspection of all 320 petrol stations, especially stations within 50km of the Malaysia-Singapore border,” she told reporters at the Johor Baru court grounds.
Malaysia had imposed a ban on the sale of RON95 petrol to foreign-registered vehicles since Aug 1, 2010, to ensure that the petrol subsidy benefitted only Malaysians.
Lilis said compound fines of RM10,000 had been imposed on six petrol kiosk operators for selling the subsidised fuel to foreign-registered vehicles.
“We hope Malaysians, especially those residing near the border, will make a complaint if they come across any foreign-registered vehicle filling up RON95 petrol at kiosks.
“Please file a complaint and we will open an investigation paper,” she said.
Earlier today, a petrol station owner was fined RM40,000 after pleading guilty in the sessions court here to a charge of filling RON95 petrol in a vehicle with foreign registration number at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak in 2019. – Bernama, March 21, 2023
