We are being made SCAPEGOATS by the Home Ministry - security firms

KUALA LUMPUR - SECURITY companies being shaken down by authorities because of some guards going rogue are crying foul that the blame is landing entirely on them.

They said the mandatory punishment of having their operating licences revoked, if they were found to have engaged guards who had failed to meet the required standards, was unfair.

Instead, they are asking that the Home Ministry check on the effectiveness of its own screening and verification system.

The recent cases of rogue security guards found to be in possession of fake MyKad have left many of them perplexed.

This, they said, was because approval for the guards' employment came from the ministry itself. If anyone was to be blamed, it would be the ministry's screening system.

"How are we to check on the authenticity of potential employees' identification when they produce a fake MyKad?

"The ministry's agencies are all linked to a common database. Their system should be able to spot discrepancies.

"We abide by the requirement to send prospective security guards for screening.

"We do not want wayward guards under us, who will only mar the credibility of, not only one company, but the industry as a whole," said Security Services Association of Malaysia president Datuk Shaheen Mirza Habib.

He was referring to the Home Ministry's Agency Link up System (ALIS) and the e-PASG electronic system, which manages private security agencies and security guards.

Shaheen also sounded off on large corporations and banks for compromising on security by not providing an adequate budget for additional security guards to be deployed in their premises to act as a counterbalance should one of them go rogue.

Association members are puzzled as to why only Kawalan Prima Sdn Bhd had to pay the price by having it business permit revoked by the ministry without a thorough investigation.

"What about the other security company that hired a guard who used his brother-in-law's MyKad to work in a Tomei jewellery store for two months before robbing it with a handgun?"

The Filipino, Hikman Jacob, who had posed as a Sabahan, had used a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver to rob a jewellery store of a tray of gold chains at the KL Festival City mall in Setapak on Oct 31.

He had been hired by Nico Security Systems Sdn Bhd, of which former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor is a shareholder and director.

On Oct 23, Indonesian Ardi Hamza shot dead AmBank officer Norazita Abu Talib, 37, at the bank's USJ Sentral 2, Subang Jaya, branch. The guard, who had a fake MyKad, escaped with RM450,000 from the bank's vault.

The case resulted in the authorities going after security companies found to have flouted regulations.

They have since rounded up scores of security guards, mostly foreigners, including those without valid documents or who had abused their visas issued for employment in other sectors.

The revelation that Ardi had a savings account with the bank puzzled many, who wondered how he could have done so using a fake MyKad, which would have to have been verified against the bank's biometric card-reader identification system. His monthly salary had been credited into this account.

Authorities believe the MyKad in his possession is genuine, except that the data on its microchip was not linked to the National Registration Department's mainframe.

"All that is happening now is putting the country's safety and security at risk. Our sovereignty is at stake," said a senior board member of a top security company, who chose to remain anonymous.

NRD director-general Datuk Jariah Mohd Said said MyKad was a high-quality document that could not be cloned.

She said the MyKad could be tampered with only by changing the photo and details on the surface but not the information and security features embedded in the card or microchip.

A week ago, two Filipino guards were picked up for using fake MyKad, following Op ID, an operation by the NRD on companies in Cyberjaya, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.

Attempts to reach ministry deputy secretary-general (operations) Datuk Alwi Ibrahim went unanswered.

Kawalan Prima has filed an appeal with the Home Ministry for its operating licence to be reinstated.

It is believed top ministry officials had grilled the Kawalan Prima team, who told the officials that they, just like the two other security companies that had hired Ardi, had relied on information in MyKad.

The two other companies that had hired Ardi were Jati Force Sdn Bhd and Special Squad Security Services Sdn Bhd.

NST