KUALA LUMPUR – The compound for individuals found to have violated the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 has been increased to RM5,000 under amendments to the act tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Prior to the proposed amendments, the compound for offending individuals and companies was RM1,000. With the amendments, the compound for companies has also been increased to RM50,000.
“The existing compound rate is increased to an amount more equivalent to the offence committed to reflect a deterrent element, in line with current situations,” the Disease Control Division’s chief assistant to the senior director, Dr Mohd Ihsani Mahmood, told journalists during a briefing on the bill in Parliament today.
According to the bill, the compound can be issued by the health director-general or any authorised officer “at any time before a charge is being instituted” against a person reasonably suspected of having committed an offence under the act.
Proposed amendments to Section 31 of the legislation also seek to prescribe a penalty of up to RM8,000, a maximum two-year jail term or both to individuals found to have contravened regulations made under the act.
Corporate bodies, meanwhile, could be subject to a fine not exceeding RM50,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years or both under the section, which previously did not detail such penalties.
The amendments to Section 24 on general penalties will also see upped punishments for those found guilty of an offence under the act for which no penalty was expressly provided.
Individuals can be liable to a fine not exceeding RM10,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years or both, while companies will face a maximum fine of RM100,000.
The government under then-prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had previously attempted to amend the act in 2021, with its proposal then seeking to raise the compound of offences from RM1,000 to RM10,000 for individuals, and up to RM500,000 for corporate bodies.
Under the bill brought by former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Individuals convicted of offences under the act were proposed to face penalties of a maximum RM50,000 fine, up to three years’ jail or both. Meanwhile, companies could be subject to a RM2 million fine upon conviction.
However, after public backlash and opposition from parliamentarians on both sides of the political divide, Ismail Sabri announced during the Umno general assembly in March 2022 that the bill would not be tabled. – July 15, 2024