Prosecution
s 45
No prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be instituted except by or with the written consent of the Public Prosecutor.
Departure Levy Act 2019 Part IX — TRIALS AND PROCEEDINGS
Jurisdiction to try offences
s 46
Notwithstanding any written law to the contrary, a Sessions Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this Act and to impose punishment under this Act for any such offence.
Evidential provisions
s 47
(1) In any proceedings under this Act or the regulations made under this Act, any statement purporting to be signed by the Director General or an officer authorized by him which forms part of or is annexed to the information, complaint or statement of claim, shall be prima facie evidence of any fact stated therein. (2) A transcript of any particulars contained in a return or other document relating to departure levy, if it is certified under the hand of the Director General or an officer authorized by him to be a true copy of the particulars, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein. (3) No statement made or document produced by or on behalf of any person shall be inadmissible in evidence against the person in any proceedings against him to which this section applies, by reason only of the fact that he was or may have been induced to make the statement or produce the document by any inducement, promise or threat made by any person having any official duty under, or being appointed for the due administration of, this Act or the regulations made under this Act. (4) Nothing in this Act shall affect the operation of Chapter IX of Part III of the Evidence Act 1950. (5) Where in any proceedings it is proved that any false statement or entry has been made in any return rendered under this Act by or on behalf of any person or in any books of account or records of any person— (a) the person shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have made the false statement or entry or to have caused the false statement or entry to be made or to have allowed it to be made with intent to evade the payment of departure levy or to obtain a refund of departure levy to which the person is not entitled, as the case may be; and (b) any other person who made the false statement or entry shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have made the false statement or entry with intent to assist the first-mentioned person to evade the payment of departure levy or to obtain a refund of departure levy to which he is not entitled. (6) Where any officer of customs has obtained any document or other evidence in exercise of his powers under this Act, the document or copy of the document or other evidence, as the case may be, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any written law. (7) Where any document which is to be used in any proceedings against any person for an offence under this Act or the regulations made under this Act is in a language other than the national language or English language, a translation of the document into the national language or English language shall be admissible in evidence where the translation is accompanied by a certificate of the person who translated the document setting out that it is an accurate, faithful and true translation and the translation had been done by the person at the instance of any officer of customs. (8) Subsection (7) shall apply to a document which is translated, regardless of whether the document was made in or outside Malaysia, or whether possession of the document was obtained by any officer of customs in or outside Malaysia.
Evidentiary value of copies of electronic notice
s 48
(1) For the avoidance of doubt, any electronic notice or any electronic record of an electronic notice or any copy or print out thereof shall not be inadmissible in evidence merely on the basis that it was filed, lodged or transmitted through the electronic service, without the delivery of any equivalent document or counterpart in paper form. (2) Notwithstanding any other written law, in any proceedings under this Act or the regulations made under this Act, any electronic notice or any electronic record of an electronic notice or any copy or print out thereof which is— (a) certified by the Director General to contain all or any information filed, lodged or transmitted through the electronic service in accordance with this Part; and (b) duly authenticated in the manner specified in section 47 or is otherwise authenticated in the manner provided in the Evidence Act 1950 for the authentication of document produced by computer, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.
Imprisonment for non-payment of fine
s 49
Notwithstanding sections 283 and 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code [Act 593], the period of imprisonment imposed by any court in respect of the non-payment of any fine under this Act or the regulations made under this Act, or in respect of the default of a sufficient distress to satisfy any such fine, shall be such period of such description, as in the opinion of the court will satisfy the justice of the case, but shall not exceed in any case the maximum period as follows: (a) where the fine does not exceed five thousand ringgit, the maximum period shall be two months; (b) where the fine exceeds five thousand ringgit but does not exceed ten thousand ringgit, the maximum period shall be four months; or (c) where the fine exceeds ten thousand ringgit but does not exceed twenty thousand ringgit, the maximum period shall be six months, with two additional months for every ten thousand ringgit after the first twenty thousand ringgit of the fine until a maximum period of six years is reached.
No costs or damages arising from seizure to be recoverable unless seizure without reasonable or probable cause
s 50
No person shall in any proceedings before any court in respect of the seizure of any thing seized in the exercise or the purported exercise of any power conferred under this Act, be entitled to the costs of the proceedings or to any damages or other relief other than an order for the return of the thing or the payment of the value unless the seizure was made without reasonable or probable cause.
Compounding of offences
s 51
(1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Public Prosecutor, make regulations prescribing— (a) any offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act as an offence which may be compounded; (b) the criteria for compounding such offence; and (c) the method and procedure for compounding such offence. (2) Any senior officer of customs may, with the consent in writing of the Public Prosecutor, at any time before a charge is being instituted, compound any offence prescribed as an offence which may be compounded by making a written offer to the person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence to compound the offence upon payment to the Director General of a sum of money not exceeding fifty per centum of the amount of the maximum fine to which the person would have been liable to if he had been convicted of the offence, within such time as may be specified in the written offer. (3) An offer under subsection (2) may be made at any time after the offence has been committed, but before any prosecution for it has been instituted, and where the amount specified in the offer is not paid within the time specified in the offer or such extended time as the Director General may grant, prosecution for the offence may be instituted at any time after that against the person to whom the offer was made. (4) Where an offence has been compounded under subsection (2), no prosecution shall be instituted in respect of the offence against the person to whom the offer to compound was made, and any document or thing seized in connection with the offence may be released by the Director General, subject to such terms as the Director General thinks fit. (5) All sums of monies received by the Director General under this section shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Fund.
Court order
s 52
(1) Where any person is found guilty of an offence under this Act, the court before which that person is found guilty shall order that person to pay to the Director General the amount of departure levy due and payable or any penalty payable under this Act, if any, as certified by the Director General and the departure levy or penalty shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine as provided under section 283 of the Criminal Procedure Code. (2) Where any person is found not guilty of an offence under this Act, and if he has paid the amount of departure levy due and payable or penalty payable in respect of the offence charged, the court may order the amount paid to be refunded to such person where no notice of appeal is filed.
Obligation of secrecy
s 53
(1) Except as provided under section 54, the name, identification card number, passport number, address of an informer or any other information which can lead to identity of an informer and the substance of the information received from an informer shall be kept secret and shall not be disclosed by any officer of customs or any person who in the ordinary course of his duties comes into possession of, or has control of or access, to the information to any person except the officer of customs authorized by the Director General. (2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) 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.
Protection of informers from discovery
s 54
(1) Except as hereinafter provided, no witness in any civil or criminal proceedings shall be obliged or permitted to disclose the name, address or any information of an informer or the substance of the information received from him or to state any matter which might lead to his discovery of the informer. (2) If any books, documents or papers which are produced in evidence or liable to inspection in any civil or criminal proceeding contain any entry in which any informer is named or described or which might lead to his discovery, the court shall cause all the passages to be concealed from view or to be obliterated so far only as may be necessary to protect the informer from discovery. (3) If in the trial for any offence under this Act, the court, after full enquiry into the case, believes that the informer wilfully made in his complaint a material statement which he knew or believed to be false or did not believe to be true, or if in any other proceedings the court is of the opinion that justice cannot be fully done between the parties thereto without the discovery of the informer, it shall be lawful for the court to require the production of the original complaint, if in writing, and permit enquiry and require full disclosure, concerning the informer.
Back to Departure Levy Act 2019 — full text
Provisions on this page are reproduced verbatim from official open data. See the attribution line.
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).
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