KUALA LUMPUR: The bitter feud between Jasin “Close One Eye” MP Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (right) and the Customs Department has escalated to another level with the Member of Parliament claiming he was offered a chance to buy a confiscated car only to be told that the luxury cars were reserved for certain people.
“I wanted a Mercedes Benz but I did not get it. What I wanted was reserved for someone else,” he told reporters at the Parliament House lobby yesterday. ”I, on the other hand, was asked to see some useless cars.”
Mohd Said said he had received an offer letter from Malacca Customs to buy one of the confiscated cars.
“I went with the intention of buying a Mercedes. I saw three luxury cars – two Mercedes and a BMW – in the yard but they were all reserved for certain people,” he recounted.
“I asked why these cars were not claimed and was told that the confiscation cases were not settled yet.”
He claimed that a Customs officer later told him that the cars were “reserved for certain people”.
The cars, he said, were eventually sold cheaply and he claimed he had evidence of the Custom’s malpractice.
Last week, the Jasin MP alleged during question time in Parliament that certain top Customs officials had sold confiscated luxury cars cheaply to their “friends” in palaces and other government departments.
Mohd Said said the officials had abused their power by selling the cars meant for open auction to their royalty friends in return for Datukships – a charge denied by Customs director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid, who insisted that his men handled seized cars according to procedure.
Last month, Mohd Said was subjected to an inquiry by a Cabinet panel for asking Malacca Customs Department in April to “close one eye” over a seized consignment of imported timber.
Continuing where he left off last week, Mohd Said made more allegations against the department.
“Why are the cars being reserved if the cases have not been settled?” he said, claiming that the cars were reserved for senior Customs officers.
He said he knew the cars were going for about RM40,000 as the Customs officers had told him that, and he decided to highlight the matter in Parliament.
Mohd Said told reporters yesterday that Customs should answer what he raised through the ministry.
