'Pirate' Taxi Racket

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31657, 18 April 1968, Page 9

'Pirate' Taxi Racket

(N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) KUALA LUMPUR, April 17, Malaysia’s new agency to combat corruption believes it has begun to break a “pirate” taxi racket involving thousands of people, some of them policemen, and many thousands of dollars. Ten thousand "pirate" taxis are plying in the cities, towns and' country areas so effectively that legal taxi

firms and even bus companies are being forced out of business.

The racket has been going on since 1955 and getting worse each year, and could have continued only with the connivance of some of the police sent out to break the business, according to the agency's enthusiastic director. Mr Harun Hashim. He took over last October and immediately instituted a clean-up campaign in Government departments and the police. “For months now we have been picking up policemen for accepting bribes from the racketeers, without ever get-

ting to the root of the trouble —the big fish who are organising the pirate taxis are arranging the bribes,” Mr Harun said today. For several months the agency planned a manoeuvre to catch the “big fish," and last week a wealthy car dealer was charged with trying to bribe three policemen not to notice the movements of a fleet of 26 cars. “We are sure this will be a blow to the racket, which has been well organised,” Mr Harun said. In one district alone, not far from Kuala Lumpur, 150 “pirate” taxis are known to be operating. The racketeers established two legal companies, one ostensibly to buy and sell cars and the other to finance what appeared to be legal hire-purchase transactions. This way, when men were caught, though they might lose their right to drive, the cars eould not be confiscated because a loophole in the law says cars belonging to “innocent” parties have to be handed back. On the surface, the hire-purchase companies were innocent owners Sometimes the car owners claimed they had simply let the car out on approval to a potential buyer. But the drivers did not always get caught. The owners were paying policemen in many districts about SNZ4 a month per car to look the other way. When, in some cases, this could mean twice the policemen’s salary, it became a very tempting proposition.

Conference Communique.— A conference between Christians and Marxists whleh closed in Geneva yesterday helped both sides to an understanding of the world situation and of the need for action for liberty, justice and peace, according to a communique issued by the organiser, the World Council of Churches. It was attended by Communists and Christians of all denominations from Europe, Africa, Asia, and America.—Geneva, April 17.