The government of Malaysia allegedly suffered a RM380-million loss last year from the misappropriation of subsidised fuel meant for some 100,000 fishermen, according to a news report today.
According to Utusan Malaysia, some of the fuel was allegedly sold to businesses instead of being channelled to the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM) for distribution to fishermen as intended.
This caused Putrajaya’s fuel subsidy bill to rise to RM1.1 billion last year alone.
Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper reported that one of the tactics used was to sell the subsidised fuel to foreign fishermen at the state borders at market price.
This provided lucrative returns as the fishermen only had to pay RM1.65/L, while diesel is currently RM2.26/L.
Apart from getting money, they would also get some of the catch from their foreign counterparts’ as to not let the authorities in on what they were up to.
They would then receive a 20 sen incentive for every kilogram of fish caught, which doubled their profits, sources said.
The sources also revealed that some suppliers responsible for delivering subsidised fuel to LKIM jetties would stop for 30 minutes pretending to transfer their loads, when they were not.
They also said that some suppliers would work together with the fishermen to pool all the subsidised fuel, before selling the collection in neighbouring countries.
2018 Malay Mail Online