Kuala lumpur: The Kuala Lumpur Department of Environment (DOE) has detected several attempts by irresponsible parties to commit fraud using the department's name. Its Director, Sharifah Zakiah Syed Sahab, said that as of today, eight such cases have been detected involving government procurement order scams, resulting in losses totaling more than RM200,000 for two suppliers.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the department first detected the scam on September 4, when a representative of a diving equipment supplier approached them to verify the authenticity of government procurement documents. Prior to this, the KL DOE had received several inquiries regarding these documents starting in mid-August. On September 8, a representative from a supplier company came to inquire about a souvenir order worth more than RM100,000, supposedly made by KL DOE for an upcoming programme.
Sharifah Zakiah noted that checks by her department revealed that the department had never made any souvenir orders or programme bookings. Instead, the orders were made using forged documents that abused officers' names, alongside fake letterheads and management signatures. Based on the suppliers' information, they had transferred more than RM100,000 to certain parties as an advance payment for the souvenirs. Consequently, KL DOE has asked the suppliers to make a police report regarding the scam.
Elaborating further, she added that KL DOE also lodged a police report last Wednesday, denying the involvement of department officers in the incident. Reports were also made to the DOE Headquarters Finance Division. However, she mentioned that yesterday and today, her department still received inquiries regarding the fake procurement orders. In fact, today there was a supplier who was scammed with losses exceeding RM100,000, and the department has subsequently referred these cases further to the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
Sharifah Zakiah also advised all suppliers and contractors to be cautious and verify the authenticity of any government procurement documents they received.