KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The police can act against anyone who is found to have abused their employers’ written approval to move about during the conditional movement control order (CMCO) for purposes not related to work, the government said today.

Senior minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this when commenting on allegations that there have been individuals who misused their employers’ letters to move about during the weekend.

Ismail Sabri pointed out that such letters from employers were only for work purposes, to enable employees who have to work at the office or factories or from their workplace to be able to pass through roadblocks easily to go to work.

He also said that the police have already created special lanes at roadblocks to expedite movement for those such as workers who have an employee pass or employer’s letter, vehicles transporting factory-related goods, and Covid-19 frontliners, in order to avoid them from being stuck in traffic jams.

“This letter is for work, not for holidays on weekends and so on,” he said in a press conference today, referring to the employers’ letters that verify the need for employees to travel to the workplace.

“And the police can actually take stern action on those who misuse those letters for other purposes other than work. So we leave it to the police to take the appropriate action on those who abuse the letter for work,” he added.

Yesterday, Sentul district police chief ACP S. Shanmugamoorthy Chinniah said instances of employees taking advantage of letters of consent from their employers to get past roadblocks on weekends for personal reasons during the CMCO had been detected, with some also giving excuses of wanting to deliver items but with inspections showing that they were moving about empty-handed.

Today, Ismail Sabri also announced that the CMCO imposed on Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya would be extended for another 14-day period from October 27 to November 9.

Labuan is currently under a CMCO from October 17 to October 30, while Ismail Sabri had on Saturday announced that the CMCO imposed on Sabah would be extended for another 14-day period from October 27 to November 9.

Ismail Sabri today also announced that CMCO would be imposed on the Nilai zone in Negri Sembilan from October 28 to November 10.

The CMCO standard operating procedures previously announced when the order started taking effect in the Klang Valley on October 14 will continue to apply in areas where CMCO have been extended and new areas where CMCO has been announced, while further information can be found on the National Security Council’s website at www.mkn.gov.my.

This includes the allowing of travel for work, buying of groceries or necessities and for emergencies.