Approved Permits (AP) will be phased out by Dec 31, 2010, the Prime Minister's Department announced today.

According to a Bernama report, the department in a brief statement said in the interim, APs will be made available based on economic contribution.

Priority will be given to vehicle assemblers that have committed to a significant increase in production volume (with significant exports) in a particular model and require APs to import models that complete their product range for the Malaysian mart.

The AP issue became a major controversy last year when former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that it was affecting national car maker Proton.

He also claimed that certain individuals managed to obtain thousands of these permits, putting him on the warpath with International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz.

After volleys of accusations and criticism, the Prime Minister's Department released the list of AP holders.

It is revealed that four people had received more than 25,000 permits to import luxury cars over the last three years.

The million-ringgit quartet comprises Nasimuddin SM Amin, Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz and Azzuddin Ahmad.

Immediately, Rafidah is assailed and many call for her resignation. However, the veteran minister managed to ride the storm.

Naza tops list again

Last week, she revealed that Nasimuddin once again topped the list of AP recipients for the first two months of this year.

His Naza Motor Group has thus far received 4,158 franchise APs to import luxury vehicles from Rafidah's ministry.

Under the open AP holders list, Nasimuddin's Naza Konsortium Sdn Bhd emerged as the biggest recipient with 3,112 permits last year and 1,297 up to March 1 this year.

Last month, Mahathir, who is Proton adviser, after maintaining silence for many weeks expressed disappointment that there have been no changes to the AP policy despite having exposed a litany of abuses.

Mahathir said he has been made to understand that up to now there are "two people" who hold huge numbers of AP and anybody wishing to import vehicles must refer to them because they have an agreement as the supplier of imported cars.

"Why almost 80 percent of the AP is still given to the same people when there have been cheating where the prices of vehicles brought in are lowered to minimise taxation?" he asked.

Mahathir said if the policy is continued as such, Proton will lose out and control only about 10 to 20 percent of the market share in this country.