Ops Grip: Tyremakers Will Assist MACC To Verify Seized Goods

The MACC is poised to be assisted by international tyremakers in verifying the 18,000 tyres it seized from its recent 'Ops Grip'.

The fallout from the recent MACC raid of a popular tyre merchant renowned for bargain basement pricing continues.

As a refresher, 'Ops Grip' by the commission resulted in the seizure of tyres that had allegedly dodged customs taxes amounting to millions of Ringgits. Much of these were also allegedly smuggled, with some suspected of being unsafe counterfeits (fakes) too.

A follow up report publish by NST also revealed that the commission was prompted to conduct their ops following complaints lodged by an unnamed Italian tyremaker.

Ops Grip reportedly targets a popular tyre merchant renowned for bargain basement prices, alleging they have been smuggling tyres and dodging customs taxes amounting in the millions of Ringgits.

Now, Bernama reports that the commission will be assisted by international tyre manufacturers to verify the tyres it seized from said ops conducted on Monday across 23 locations. From which, about 18,000 tyres were seized in total.

“Initial investigations found that the smuggled tyres consisted of various categories, including new tyres that were not properly declared, used tyres, as well retreaded tyres that did not meet safety standards,” said one source quoted by Bernama.

The same source adds that the commission had monitored the alleged tyre smuggling activity for about six months before conducting the raid mentioned. Despite so, there have been no arrests made yet as investigators focus on seizing other connected assets.

The report further alleges that the targeted merchant were also involved in retreaded tyres that did not meet safety standard.

Continuing with the latter, MACC has reportedly frozen several individual and company bank accounts valued at roughly RM70 million. The commission estimates that this syndicate may have caused up to RM350 million in lost tax revenue since 2020.

“Investigations found that the activities involved submitting inaccurate import documents, including false declarations of value, classification, or quality certificates, to reduce the amount of tax payable,” continued the same source mentioned.