End the practice of reserving confiscated cars for special individuals, the Royal Customs and Excise Department has been told in the wake of a recent complaint.

The parliamentary select committee on integrity made this recommendation today after a meeting in Parliament House.

Committee head Bernard Dompok told reporters that such cars should be publicly auctioned off to prevent any eventuality of abuse of power.

"The option should no longer be made available to individuals (by way of) approval from the finance ministry and the Customs department," said Dompok, who is also minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

The committee last week had revealed that the department had some discretionary powers in deciding who appears on the list of special individuals. However, the extent of such powers has been challenged.

A new committee under the finance ministry has since been set up to deal with this.

Interim report due

At present, the department disposes of confiscated vehicles in one of four ways - via open tender, selling off as scrap, donations to institutions of higher learning or by selling to certain individuals.

Those entitled to get the cars under the fourth category include senior civil servants who are nearing retirement age, members of Parliament, state assembly representatives and contacts at the palaces. The prices of the cars are fixed by the Public Works Department after evaluation.

Backbencher Mohd Said Yusof (BN-Jasin), however, had alleged that there were 'special deals' for friends and contacts at palaces and government departments in order to please buyers for specific reasons or to curry favour to obtain 'Datuk' titles.

Citing an instance, Dompok said there was an instance where a past Customs director-general had exercised his discretionary powers to further reduce the price upon appeal by government officers who intended to buy confiscated cars.

He said the committee would incorporate its recommendation to the authorities in an interim report to Parliament due end of the year.

Earlier today, the committee met with Mohd Yusof, following its meeting with Customs Director-General Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid over the MP's allegation last week.

However, Dompok said the committee would not pass judgement on who is right or wrong as its role is to make recommendations to the government on how to improve integrity.

Mohd Yusof declined to elaborate on the meeting, saying only that he had been given the opportunity to tell his side of the story.