[ad_1]
KUALA LUMPUR: Tests with frozen meat taken from the warehouse of the cartel of meat under investigation showed that it is not pork, horse or kangaroo, says Deputy Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Rosol Wahid.
This was the result of tests conducted by the Chemistry Department on frozen meat samples taken from the warehouse, he said.
“The negative results from the Chemistry Department are a relief to all of us,” he said in response to the debate in the Dewan Negara yesterday.
He also refuted various media reports alleging that the meat cartel activity had been ongoing for nearly 40 years.
“It is not true that the activity takes almost 40 years because the investigation of the ministry revealed that the company involved was only registered in 2014 and obtained the license to import frozen products in 2017,” he said.
Rosol, who later visited a frozen meat import company in Selayang, said that the country’s three largest frozen meat suppliers, Allana Group, Amroon and Al-Aali, were among those guaranteed halal.
He said that the Muslim community in the country should not worry about buying meat from these three companies.
Earlier, Bukit Aman’s CID Director Comm Datuk Huzir Mohamed said 13 complaints had been filed against the cartel using a false “halal label”, adding that his special investigation unit was investigating the case under the law. Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code for making public fear and alarm.
Initial investigations revealed that the illegal activity involved a broad network made up of local and foreign unions based on total seizures and value, he said.
“Our investigation will include the acquisition, storage, processing, smuggling, as well as the parties that have been tampered with or are in collusion with the unions to carry the frozen meat through an approved permit.
“We are investigating this matter seriously and will work together with agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs and the Customs Department,” he said.
Furthermore, the Malaysian Department of Inspection and Quarantine Services (Maqis) expects the Malaysian Inspection and Quarantine Services Act of 2011 (Law 728) to be amended next year to give the agency more force.
Its director general, Saiful Yazan Alwi, said the amendment to the law had been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries and was in the process of being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office. “Currently, Maqis jurisdiction is only at points of entry, quarantine stations and quarantine premises. If the Act is amended, the scope of application can be expanded beyond the points of entry, including making arrests and pressing charges, ”he said.
On the government’s consideration for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to be established on the issue of questionable meat imports, Saiful Yazan said this could provide some answers to people, especially in light of the allegations and in particular against enforcement agencies.
The Malaysian Advisory Council has called for the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to be renewed.
Its advisory board member, Tun Hanif Omar, said the department should renounce its duty to issue halal certification and have this role taken over by the Halal Council of Malaysia.
“It is time for the council, whose functions were suspended by the previous administration, play its role in matters related to the livestock industry,” he said.
Among others, Hanif proposed the creation of a special working group consisting of the Prime Minister’s Department, the state Islamic religious councils, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Maqis, Customs, Police, and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
The council, Hanif said, would present its recommendations to the Malaysian rulers to seek their wisdom in solving the halal meat scandal.
Recently, authorities arrested a cartel that had been smuggling meat from Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina and China, and then repackaged them with the halal logo.
A raid was carried out on a warehouse in Senai, Johor, where 1,500 tonnes of frozen meat worth RM30 thousand were seized.
The cartel, which is believed to have been operating for a few years, had allegedly been using the warehouse as a place to make fake labels and stamps to stick on packages of non-certified meat.
[ad_2]
