RA Lingeshwaran said the panel was suspended until further notice after Socso discovered the racket at a hospital in Penang.

The former director of Sungai Bakap Hospital said he was made to understand the cartel was lobbying for the suspended panel to be brought back to the same hospital.

“I urge the human resources minister to get to the root of these nefarious activities,” he said when debating amendments to the Social Security Organisation Bill tabled in the Dewan Negara today.

Lingeshwaran reminded the upper house that there were 683 fraudulent withdrawals from 2018 to 2022 involving some RM43 million, and that 16 of these cases involved one particular doctor whose services were terminated after the discovery.

He also demanded an update on Socso’s probe.

“How many have been charged in court? All those who were involved in this nefarious activity must be brought to justice.

“The reports on all the fraud cases must be made public.”

Lingeshwaran said as a former orthopaedic doctor, he knew it was not easy to convince Socso to pay out benefits without proper examination and documentation.

He said the process involved several layers which could not have been done without the involvement of specialists and the records department, and that even radiology reports had been falsified in certain cases.

“What we know is just the tip of the iceberg where fraudulent Socso claims are concerned.

“I am sure this is a systemic problem that is shackling the claims process. If it is not urgently checked, we are going to lose hundreds of millions of ringgit,” he said.