Obstruction
Any person who—
(a) in any way assaults, obstructs, hinders, threatens or molest the officer of customs in the discharge of his functions under this Act or the regulations made under this Act; or
(b) fails to give reasonable facilities or assistance to any officer of customs in the exercise of his functions under this Act or the regulations made under this Act,
commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than six months and not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit or to both.
Incorrect return and short paid
Any registered person who makes an incorrect return or gives any incorrect information in relation to any matter affecting his liability to charge the departure levy or the departure levy charged commits an offence and shall, on conviction—
(a) be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both; and
(b) where the offence relates to the deficiency of departure levy, be liable to a penalty equal to the deficient amount.
Evasion of departure levy, fraud
(1) Any person who, with the intent to evade or to assist any other person to evade departure levy—
(a) omits from a return any information in relation to any matter affecting his liability to charge departure levy or the amount of the departure levy collected;
(b) makes any false statement or false entry in any return furnished, or claim or application made, under this Act or the regulations made under this Act;
(c) gives any false answer, whether in writing or otherwise to any question asked or request for information made in accordance with the provisions of this Act or the regulations made under this Act;
(d) prepares or maintains, or authorizes the preparation or maintenance of, any false book of accounts or other false records, or falsifies or authorizes the falsification of any book of accounts or records; or
(e) makes, uses or authorizes the use of any fraud, artifice or contrivance,
commits an offence.
(2) Any person who commits an offence under subsection (1) shall, on conviction—
(a) be liable to a fine not exceeding one million ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both; and
(b) where the offence relates to the deficiency of departure levy, be liable to a penalty equal to the deficient amount.
(3) Where in any proceedings under this section it is proved that a false statement or false entry, whether by omission or otherwise, has been made in any return furnished, or claim or application made, under this Act or the regulations made under this Act by or on behalf of any person or in any books of account or other records maintained by or on behalf of any person, that person shall be presumed until the contrary is proved to have made that false statement or false entry with intent to evade departure levy.
(4) Any reference in this section to a person who makes, uses or authorizes the use of any fraud, artifice or contrivance includes a reference to a person who, without the authority of the Director General or a senior officer of customs—
(a) destroys, damages, erases, alters or manipulates data stored in, or used in connection with, a computer;
(b) introduces into, or records or stores in, a computer by any means data for the purpose of—
(i) destroying, damaging, erasing, altering or manipulating data stored in, or used in connection with, a computer; or
(ii) interfering with, interrupting or obstructing the lawful use of a computer, or the data stored in, or used in connection with, a computer; or
(c) otherwise uses a computer,
the purpose or effect of which is to evade departure levy.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), “data” includes any computer program or part of a computer program.
(6) In any prosecution under this section, any evasion of departure levy shall be deemed to be with the knowledge of the accused unless the contrary be proved by the accused.
Refusing to answer question or giving false information
(1) Any person who, being required under this Act or the regulations made under this Act to give any information which may reasonably be required by the officer of customs which it is in his power to give, refuses to give the information or furnishes as true the information which he knows or has reason to believe to be false, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.
(2) When any of the information is proved to be untrue or incorrect in whole or in part, it shall be no defence to allege that the information or any part of the information was furnished inadvertently or without criminal or fraudulent intent, or was misinterpreted or not fully interpreted by an interpreter provided by the informant.
Attempts and abetments
Any person who attempts to commit an offence punishable under this Act or the regulations made under this Act, or abets the commission of the offence, shall be punishable with the punishment provided for the offence.
General penalty
Any person who commits an offence under this Act or the regulations made under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.
Offences by company, etc.
Where any person who commits an offence under this Act or the regulations made under this Act is a company, limited liability partnership, firm, society or other body of persons, a person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, compliance officer, partner, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the company, limited liability partnership, firm, society or other body of persons or was purporting to act in the capacity or was in any manner or to any extent responsible for the management of any of the affairs of the company, limited liability partnership, firm, society or other body of persons or was assisting in its management—
(a) may be charged severally or jointly in the same proceedings with the company, limited liability partnership, firm, society or the body of persons; and
(b) if the company, limited liability partnership, firm, society or the body of persons is found guilty of the offence, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to the same punishment or penalty as an individual unless, having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all circumstances, he proves—
(i) that the offence was committed without his knowledge; or
(ii) that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he had taken all reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.
Liability of person for act, etc., of employee, etc.
Where any person is liable to any punishment or penalty under this Act or the regulations made under this Act for any act, omission, neglect or default committed—
(a) by that person’s employee in the course of his employment;
(b) by that person’s agent when acting on behalf of that person; or
(c) by the employee of that person’s agent when acting in the course of his employment by the person’s agent or otherwise on behalf of the person’s agent acting on behalf of that person,
such person shall be liable to the same punishment or penalty for every such act, omission, neglect or default of the person’s employee or agent, or of the employee of the person’s agent.
Departure levy, etc., to be payable notwithstanding any proceedings, etc.
The institution of proceedings or the imposition of a penalty, fine or term of imprisonment under this Act or the compounding of an offence under section 51 shall not relieve any person from the liability to pay for departure levy or penalty under this Act.
Source: Laws of Malaysia, Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia (lom.agc.gov.my). Not a copy of the Gazette printed by the Government Printer (Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967, s 61).
