Pub, nightclub owners risk legal action for breaching RMCO, says Ismail Sabri

Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob today warned that owners of nightclubs and pubs found to be operating illegally during the recovery movement control order (RMCO) will face stern action, including being charged in court and having their operating licences revoked.

He said entertainment centres were still prohibited from operating during the RMCO, and those which opened would be in breach of the directive under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

“For operators who disobey (the directive), the police can issue summonses and compounds, and can even detain them and take them to court, because they are not only violating the SOPs but also going against the government ban, which it is wrong under the law,” he said in a press conference on the RMCO.

He earlier said that of the 778 people detained for breaching the RMCO yesterday, 600 allegedly committed offences at nightclubs and pubs.

Given the rise in number of arrests due to such activities, he said, the police had decided to include the local authorities in raids and spot-checks at entertainment centres.

“If arrests are made during raids on nightclubs and pubs without the involvement of local authorities, a list of the premises involved will be submitted to the authorities concerned,” he said.

“Local authorities have the power to close and revoke the licences of such premises.”