Responding to Nga Kor Ming (PH-Teluk Intan) in the Dewan Rakyat today, deputy finance minister Mohd Shahar Abdullah said that in 2020, there were 2,842 cases where contraband alcohol and tobacco products were seized by authorities, with a total value of RM97.34 million.

This saved the government RM707 million in potential tax losses, he said.

This year, as of September, there were 2,518 cases with a seizure value of RM41.43 million.

The government was able to avoid RM281.69 million in taxes through these operations, he said.

He noted that issues related to illicit trade include transshipment leakages and cross border smuggling from places like Thailand.

Earlier this year, customs director-general Abdul Latif Kadir said the department had managed to detect an estimated RM5.38 billion in total revenue leakages in 2020, RM2.42 billion more than the target of RM2.96 billion set for the year.

Among the factors cited were tax evasion from the seizure of various goods, other revenues such as settlement of accounts receivable as well as adjustments and claims bills issued by the department’s compliance division.