Tuesday December 7, 2010
Customs Dept sued for RM15mil
KUALA LUMPUR: A cigarette import company is suing the Customs Department director-general and four others for RM15mil, claiming that they had been negligent in sealing its cigarettes and business premises. Ramunas Sdn Bhd and its director Roslan Abu Bakar, 46, filed the suit at the Shah Alam High Court, a copy of which was made available to the press here yesterday.
The suit named Customs raiding officer Kamaruddin Jusoh, investigating officer Mohd Sukri Jusoh, senior assistant director Mohamad Sapian Sanusi, the Customs director-general and the Government as defendants. In the statement of claim filed on Nov 23, the plaintiffs said Mohd Sukri had on Sept 24 sealed their business premises and later seized several documents, cigarette samples and a computer CPU unit from the office.
Ramunas also said that the investigating officer had conducted a search without a warrant and a relevant notice. The plaintiffs said that on Sept 27, Kamaruddin had, while leading a Customs team, shouted in front of Roslan’s house when he was not around and frightened his daughter. Roslan also claimed that upon his return to the house with his wife, Kamaruddin had talked harshly to him and ordered the couple to follow him to the Customs office without any explanation.
He said that as a result, his daughter often assumed that he was involved in illegal activities and this had affected his family’s harmony. Roslan alleged that Mohamad Sapian had interrogated him and that he had been told that the defendants had sealed his cigarettes assuming that he was involved in unlawful activities.
Ramunas, the plaintiffs claimed, had been given a licence to import kretek from Indonesia via Port Klang for sale in Thailand by the Customs director-general and were applying for a declaration that the act of sealing their business premises in Subang Jaya was unlawful. They are also seeking a declaration that the act of sealing 19,507 cartons of cigarettes in Port Klang was beyond the Free Zone Act and Customs Act and was invalid.
They also want RM14.47mil as compensation for the cancellation of contracts due to the cigarettes being sealed, and exemplary damages for abuse of power in sealing 23,347 cartons of kretek and their business premises, as well as interests, costs and any further relief.
