Like pouring oil into a fire, the news of Malaysia's Opposition Leader, Hamzah Zainuddin's son being charged with a few violations in relation to cooking oil subsidy in Malaysia spread across social media and respectable news portals very quickly. Muhammad Faisal Hamzah, 39, was charged at the Sessions Court on Wednesday (5th of April) with nine counts of violations along with his partner, Azizul Abdul Halim, 55.
In case you have not heard the hot news, the two men named above were both directors of a company called Rimba Merpati Sdn Bhd, a wholesale cooking oil license holder. Last year, after a raid on the company's premises, authorities found invoices purported to be sales of cooking oil (polybag) to Warisan Hasil Alam and Pasar Segar Din Maju but were later found to be fake. This means the company had purposely submitted false documents to the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP). This is especially unacceptable because cooking oil in polybags is one of the few controlled items in Malaysia and falls under Section 8(4) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961. In this case, both men could be punishable under Section 22(2) of the same Act.
But, how much cooking oil exactly did the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs find during that raid?
According to news from last year, when KPDNHEP did the OPS ATM (Operasi Ayam, Telur, Minyak Masak) at Kawasan Industri Sinar Andalas, Senawang, Negeri Sembilan, they found a total of 60,000kg polybags cooking oil - 30,000kg of polybag cooking oil was on a lorry outside the premise and another 30,000kg of polybag cooking oil was kept on the premise. However, the company's logbook noted that there was only 5,350kg of polybag cooking oils in its keep.
Imagine how many families could have put those cooking oils to good use.
Maybe when Opposition Leader, Hamzah Zainuddin warned the government not to find fault in others last month and was quoted in an interview with Malaysiakini, saying, "I used to be the home minister, I think I’ve got a lot of files against them too, whether I want to use it or not," he might have missed a file or two on the ongoings at his own backyard.
However, for now, both the directors of Rimba Merpati Sdn Bhd have pleaded not guilty before Judge Mazni Nawi after the charges were read by the court interpreter yesterday. Whatever happens next, may justice prevail.
Aliza M. is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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