BANKS MUST FOLLOW FIXED SOPS TO HANDLE CUSTOMERS’ COMPLAINTS ON ILLEGALLY WITHDRAWN MONEY - HUI YING

Lim said the ministry had received several complaints about bank officials who did not take appropriate action on complaints or investigate money withdrawn without acknowledgement by bank account holders. 

"There are some cases being handled by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) but they are only a low percentage and are still under control. We will investigate specific cases on a case by case basis,” she told reporters after officiating at the launch of the Trace and Recovery Operation (TRO) 2.0 (Declaration Without Payment) Series 2/2024 here today, which was also attended by the Director General of Royal Malaysian Customs Datuk Anis Rizana Mohd Zainudin@Mohd Zainuddin.

She said that at the same time the implementation of the SOPs will also be tightened since all the steps are already in place and listed but there are still banks that refuse to follow them. 

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"So we give a reminder because SOPs and announcements like these are not new, where customer complaints about their money being withdrawn illegally, the bank needs to investigate accordingly. If it can be proven that it is not the customer's negligence and that all steps and procedures have been followed, hence the bank needs to be responsible. 

"Bank account holders are advised to make it a habit to check their bank accounts and if this kind of thing still happens and they are not satisfied with the results of the bank's investigation, the customer can complain to the Ombudsman for Financial Services (OFS) or directly to Bank Negara Malaysia," she said.

Meanwhile, she said the TRO 2.0 (Declaration Without Payment) ceremony was symbolic of the implementation of a special integrated operation that the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) will carry out in seven locations, namely Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, KL International Airport, Johor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak from July 14 to 19.

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She said the main objective of this TRO 2.0 (Declaration Without Payment) is to increase revenue collection and the level of registrant compliance with the Sales Tax Act 2018, the Service Tax Act 2018 and the Tourism Tax Act 2017. 

"It is to facilitate and even generate the impact of tax collection, and as of the beginning of this year, JKDM has achieved more than RM30 billion collection from indirect taxes. 

"With the current collection trend, we believe JKDM can achieve the projection set by MoF which is RM50 billion," she said.

-- BERNAMA