SEPANG: Several courts nationwide will undergo a two-year renovation and refurbishment works, utilising the government's RM120 million one-off allocation in the Fourth Rolling Plan 2020 under allocations for buildings.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the courts that would be given a facelift were located at various places, including Klang, Selangor; Sungai Petani, Kedah; Johor Baru, Johor; and Kuching, Sarawak.
“The Sepang Court Complex, for instance, will use RM825,000 for renovation, maintenance works and upgrading its facilities. These works will start in April,” he told reporters after a visit to the Sepang Court Complex here.
Also present was Malaysia Federal Court Chief registrar Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh.
Hanipa told reporters that the Sepang Court was formerly a court dedicated to handle illegal immigrant cases.
“Now, we have a special court in Semenyih to look into cases involving illegal immigrants,” he said, adding that the special court had started its operation early this month.
On the number of registered cases involving illegal immigrants, Hanipa cited an average of about 1,000 cases recorded per month in Selangor.
To a question, he said the backlogged court cases involving illegal immigrants were about 20 per cent, which was relatively low.
Hanipa added that illegal immigrant issues would be something that Malaysia had to manage because the country was a popular destination for foreigners due to its peace and stability.
From Jan 1 to Dec 6, 2018, it was reported that a total of 45,499 illegal immigrants were arrested by the Immigration Department.
For the same period, 1,323 errant employers were detained for hiring or protecting illegal immigrants and the majority of them had been charged in court.