Customs department director-general Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid will be summoned by parliamentary select committee on integrity next week to explain the alleged questionable practices involved in the auctioning of confiscated luxury cars.

"We'll ask him to shed some light on the allegation by the (BN) Jasin MP (Mohd Said Yusof)," committee chairperson Bernard Dompok told reporters in Parliament today.

However, he said the committee has no plans to call Mohd Said since he has already raised the matter in the Dewan Rakyat.

According to Dompok, who is also minister in the Prime Minister's Department, the committee decided to call the customs DG because it was a matter concerning integrity.

Last Wednesday, Mohd Said alleged that the going rate for seized Mercedes Benz and BMW was RM40,000 per vehicle. He claimed that these were 'special deals' for friends, contacts at palaces and government departments in order to please the buyers for specific reasons or curry favour to get datuk titles.

In an immediate refutation, Abdul Rahman denied any abuse of power while its prevention division head Adnan Ariffin said a committee under the Finance Ministry decides on the sale of luxury cars seized, and not the department itself.

However, it was revealed later that the Jasin MP was one of the 'lucky MPs' who received a letter from the customs headquarters about two years ago allowing them to buy the seized luxury vehicles.

According to the letter, the MPs could 'pick and choose' any car they wanted and there was no deadline. However, there is no record of whether Mohd Said had purchased a vehicle from the department.

No hidden agenda

Speaking to reporters today, the Jasin MP explained that he did not buy any cars since the car he chose, a Mercedes Benz, was reserved for somebody else.

"I was told by the customs officer that the car was provided for certain individuals for RM40,000 and I asked who these individuals were in my Parliament questions. But their names were kept for safety reasons and my name came out instead," he said.

On the call for him to lodge a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), he replied: "Do you think I will lodge a report against my government? I'm a backbencher. That would not be nice-lah."

Mohd Said reiterated that he has no hidden agenda behind his allegations. The MP in recent months had landed in the limelight when it was reported that he had asked the customs to 'close one eye' to a seized shipment of illegal timber handled by his company.

When the news broke, the MP accused the customs of having an axe to grind with him, leading certain quarters to wonder if his latest allegation was an act of personal vengeance.

'Project M'

In another development, Dompok said the select committee met officials from local governments and ACA yesterday and today regarding the feedback obtained from the public, which among others, called for the corruption watchdog to be given greater independence.

"But ACA officers who attended the meeting today feel they have sufficient power and think they are free (to carry out their duties). They are happy with it and only want more staff and funds," he added

To date, the select committee - formed early this year - has held five public hearings nationwide. The committee is given a two-year time frame to come out with a report.

Quizzed on the follow-up to the revelation by an ex-senator on ' Project Mahathir ' during the committee's hearing in Sabah last month, Dompok said the committee will call the relevant agencies such as the immigration and national registration departments to explain.

Former senator Dr Chong Eng Leong told the committee that the extraordinary population increase in Sabah was caused by the deliberate issuance of Malaysian identity cards (IC) to foreigners under the secretive project codenamed 'Project Mahathir' or 'Project IC'.

As a result, there are around 1.75 million foreigners in Sabah today, including those in possession of ICs, compared to 1.5 million genuine locals.