The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in Kota Kinabalu has denied an allegation that it has delayed resolving a case involving two individuals with the same Mykad number.

It said that the case had, in fact, been resolved in April and that the complainant and would-be contributor - Tan Ah Kee, 50 - is in the process of being informed.

Tan had run into problems over the Mykad details when she went to the EPF office in Kota Kinabalu on Jan 12 to register as a contributor.

Tan, from Tawau, was found to have the same MyKad number as a contributor, a man from Penampang.

She verified with the NRD on Jan 14 that her MyKad was genuine, and lodged a police report on Aug 13 against the person holding a MyKad with the same number as hers.

Tan later sought the help of Sabah DAP, which called a press conference in Kota Kinabalu last Saturday to highlight the EPF’s apparent delay in attending to her complaint.

Apart from the confusion over her Mykad, Tan also claimed that she had been told to take her dilemma to the EPF head office in Kuala Lumpur.

kwsp epf logo EPF general manager (public relations) Nik Affendi Jaafar denied this, alongside the allegation that such cases are rampant in Sabah.

“She can start contributing,” he pointed out, apologising to Tan for “any inconvenience caused to her by the EPF”.

He did not disclose how the problem had been resolved or the current status of the male contributor, but said “we have a system in place to verify the authenticity of an individual”.

Nik Affendi admitted that the EPF has had problems with those who registered before January 2007. In such cases, he said, the problem is settled once it is identified and referred to the EPF.

Post-January 2007, the EPF in Sabah had apparently upgraded the “security aspects of the registration process”.

Details of any new member registered are verified against the National Registration Department (NRD) data bank, said Nik Affendi.

“The NRD is the authoritative body responsible for registering important events such as birth, death, adoption, marriage, divorce and citizenship.”

Nik Affendi said the authenticity of members’ data is of the utmost importance to the EPF “and every effort is made to ensure the information given to the EPF is genuine”.

‘Need for probe’

NRD director Abdul Jaffear Henry, commenting on Tan’s case, claimed that it was a first for the department since he took office in October 2008.

“We need to investigat mykad counter 051105 e how two persons have come to share the same MyKad number,” he said.

“We need to investigate the situation and find out what type of documents the man used to register as a contributor to the EPF.”

He could not immediately confirm whether his department would investigate what documents the man had used to get a MyKad.

Those with fake MyKads, or genuine MyKads to which they are not entitled, can be prosecuted under the National Registration Act 1959 (amended 2007). The offender can be jailed up to three years or fined up to RM 20,000, or both, upon conviction.

“If the offender is an illegal immigrant, he will be referred to the Immigration Department by the court for further action,” said Henry.