No abuse of power in halal certification process, says Muis

There has been no abuse of power in the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), it said yesterday, following investigations into allegations made against it regarding how it recognises foreign halal certification bodies (FHCBs).

But in the interest of accountability and transparency, the council has referred the allegations to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and will conduct a comprehensive review of its FHCB recognition framework. It has also made a police report about this issue, as the Muis investigations revealed the possibility that official information has been publicly disclosed.

FHCBs are organisations Muis deems to have similar standards to its own when it comes to halal certification, and whose products are certified as halal, or fit for consumption by Muslims here, when imported into Singapore. These organisations can earn thousands of dollars monthly by charging exporters a fee to get their products shipped to Singapore certified as halal.

Since April, Muis has made several public statements in response to allegations by Hong Kong-based news outlet Asia Sentinel that the council showed favouritism in its recognition of FHCBs.

A key point of the allegations was whether Muis' recognition and delisting of FHCBs was carried out in a fair and impartial manner, and if one of its officers had displayed any bias.

More articles in Asia Sentinel as well as other online outlets have been published repeating and furthering the accusations.

In response to these, Muis had said in June that an internal investigation team, as well as an independent review panel, chaired by Mr Abdul Hamid Abdullah, a Muis council member and retired audit director from the Auditor-General's Office, had been established to review the allegations. Muis said yesterday that the allegations were unfounded.

"The investigations have found that Muis' processes are sound and the recognition and delisting of FHCBs have been carried out by its officers in a fair and impartial manner. As such, any accusations alleging abuse of power by its officer is unfounded," said the council.

Muis said its investigations revealed that all recognition, renewal or delisting of FHCBs have followed approved internal protocols, and the accused Muis officer had neither approved nor delisted any FHCB based on his personal discretion. There were reasonable, objective grounds for the delisting of FHCBs and proper approvals were obtained, said the council.

While Muis does not disclose reasons for rejecting or delisting FHCBs as a matter of policy, it provided a summary of the reasons for such a decision yesterday. This includes incomplete applications and insufficient supporting documents despite reminders given.

Muis said its decision to conduct a review of its FHCB recognition scheme is in response to how the halal business landscape has evolved significantly. The council intends to implement changes arising from this review by the end of next year.

In the course of its investigations, which included 49 submissions from FHCBs and members of the public, Muis discovered that there was a possibility that classified information was published in the media. It has made a police report about this.

"As Muis takes the matter of misconduct of a public officer who discloses classified information to unauthorised sources very seriously, Muis has lodged a police report to investigate the potential breach of the Official Secrets Act and will take disciplinary action against any officers found to be in breach," it said.