International trade and industry minister Azmin Ali said each CIMS 3.0 approval letter had its own QR code. A scan of the code on the letter in question showed that the company’s registration had never been approved and that there was an element of fraud.

“The company claimed that it was allowed to operate and that we (Miti) gave the approval letter.

“But after a thorough investigation, we found out that it was a false claim that gave a bad image to the CIMS system and the ministry,” he told a press conference here today.

Azmin was commenting on claims that photography and small-scale shoe manufacturing services were among sectors approved by Miti to operate during the movement control order (MCO) via CIMS 3.0.

He said there were several cases of fraudulent applications that had been detected and action had been taken against them.

Among them was a company that claimed to be manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) suits but investigations found that the company’s activities only covered the manufacturing of helmets, he said, adding that the company was issued a RM10,000 compound and ordered to suspend operations for two weeks.

He said the ministry is working with CyberSecurity Malaysia and IT experts to strengthen the CIMS portal and prevent system leaks.