COMMENT | Meat cartel: The price of corruption?

COMMENT | On 21 and 22 December 2020, a local newspaper published several exposes about a ‘meat cartel’ that specialises in importing meat into Malaysia. According to the reports, the cartel has been in operation for more than 40 years.

The cartel would bring non-certified meat into Malaysia and passing it off as halal-certified products. Among the stock they bring in are kangaroo meat, horse meat and beef of poor quality or even from diseased animals.

The cartel allegedly worked with several officers from government agencies to bring in the meat into this country as halal-certified meat. The officers would be bribed with money and even sex in order for the cartel to continue to operate.

Quoting from the reports, “…the process began abroad, where government agency officers entrusted with supervising the quality of the meat at the slaughterhouses would sign off on the products whether or not they met Malaysia's rigorous halal and quality standards.”

Once the cartel bypassed this first stage, they would bring the products into the country via ports, where ‘representatives’ in government agencies based at the ports would then assist the meat to be allowed entry into Malaysia...