SHAH ALAM - Some call them the ‘funeral cartel’ and some even call them a syndicate, but whatever they are dubbed as, these irresponsible parties are capable of bribing hospital staff up to RM300 for a dead body.
This was said to be happening nationwide, especially at government hospitals.
VCEE Malaysia chief volunteer Wan Hilmi Wan Mohd Nor revealed the modus operandi of the group was simple – the mortuary would contact these parties first to inform them of the availability of new remains.
He said the funeral management team would then ask for information as well as the telephone number of the deceased’s family and confused them with the funeral charges.
Wan Hilmi said that based on his investigation, the syndicate existed nationwide and earned thousands of ringgit a day.
"During the pandemic, there were many fatalities hence the syndicate could gain up to RM20,000 to 30,000 a day for managing 20 to 30 funerals daily.
"The cases may be less now but the syndicate remains active due to the high rewards,” he told Rasuah Busters recently.
Wan Hilmi said the activities were exposed because VCEE offered to provide free services or minimum charges to the deceased’s families but they were rejected by hospital staff multiple times.
"VCEE were not allowed to come in to help with the funeral arrangements at some of the hospitals, as the matter was said to be handled by another party,” he said, questioning how the syndicate could get deceased kin’s contact that quickly.
He said the syndicate would charge RM750 for ‘tayammum’ for those who passed due to Covid-19, but it was not informed to the next of kins.
"The ‘tayammum’ charge is actually only RM15 and the officers who manage the body of Covid-19 have been funded by the Islamic Religious Department.
"There are also syndicates that charge management fees of RM1,500 to RM1,700,” he explained.
He said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was aware of the funeral cartel activities and several arrests were made separately, with the latest one on Thursday.
On October 7, 2021, five staffs of a hospital were remanded suspected of soliciting and accepting bribes from agents to get the funeral management works at the hospital.
It was reported that the activity of soliciting bribes was done from August 2019 to August 2021 amounting to more than RM20,000.