2008/08/04
By : Patrick Sennyah
BAHAU: It looked like any other kenduri. There were tents put up and food was served to some 250 people who turned up for the "feast" at Felda Serting Satu here yesterday afternoon.
But behind the charade, there was something sinister going on. The cover was blown when a team of officers from the Anti-Corruption Agency raided the "feast".
It was then discovered that the guests were all illegal immigrants and the hosts were officers from the Johor Immigration Department who were abusing their powers in assisting foreign workers obtain and renew their I-Kad.
Four Immigration officers, including a woman, and two middlemen, were arrested in the raid about 4.30pm. The raiding team also seized RM6,000 and 250 I-Kad.
A source told the New Straits Times that the 250 foreign workers had come to the house from as early as 8am.
They allegedly paid RM100 each for the I-Kad.
The officers involved each collected RM30 for "services rendered".
The I-Kad was introduced in May last year to make it easy to identify foreigners who are here to study or work.
It is a new, high-security, colour-coded card system which has 17 security features and the colour represents the sector the holder is in.
The card is also embedded with a microchip that has a biometric thumbprint of the holder to determine the identity of the holder.
The source added that the four officers had been taken to the state ACA office here.
It is not known if the arrests of the four are linked to the earlier ACA swoop at the Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya.
In the incident, 12 officers and businessmen involved in manpower supply companies. were arrested to facilitate investigations into a visa and permit extension scam.
The ACA seized almost RM500,000 in that operation.
The first to be detained in the operation on July 11 was the Immigration Department director-general Datuk Wahid Md Don, 56, who was charged and later released on bail.
The following day, Wahid's deputy, Yusof Abu Bakar, and Yusof's brother-in-law who acted as a middleman, were also arrested. Both were also charged and released on bail.
In follow-up operations, the ACA arrested two more Immigration officers with the rank of deputy directors.
Following their arrests, Wahid and Yusof were reassigned to the Public Service Department reporting directly to its director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam, pending completion of court proceedings.
