PETALING JAYA: The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) has seized 156 social visit pass application files as part of its probe into an alleged medical visa syndicate involving immigration officers.
In a statement today, EAIC said it seized the files at the immigration department’s headquarters in Putrajaya on Oct 1.
"The seizure was conducted following complaints received regarding allegations that immigration department officers were issuing social visit passes for medical treatment to foreign nationals without following proper procedures," Bernama reported EAIC as saying.
Earlier, immigration department director-general Zakaria Shaaban confirmed that EAIC had visited the immigration headquarters to investigate alleged breaches of integrity involving its officers.
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Media reports today said the syndicate, which had allegedly been operating for some time, had granted medical visas to foreign nationals to enter the country.
However, after entering the country, they would disappear for several years to work illegally.
The EAIC investigation comes on the back of a separate probe into the immigration department by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Last month, MACC listed 11 main weaknesses involving the immigration department, which it said provided opportunities for syndicates to bring in foreigners using the counter setting method.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki was reported to have said a senior immigration officer, believed to be the mastermind behind the counter setting operations, was among 60 individuals arrested on Sept 5.
The officers are believed to have received bribes from syndicate agents to arrange for special counters to release foreigners without going through proper checks at the airports.
Set up in 2011, the EAIC is a federal statutory body tasked with investigating and conducting hearings into complaints against some 20 enforcement agencies.
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