1. Private Investigation Industry in Malaysia has been in place for so long that the act which governs the conduct of Malaysian Private Investigator in Malaysian has since being enacted in 1971 which is known as Private Agencies Act 1971.
2. Private Agency Act 1971 outlines that any company or an individual who wants to operate a private investigation business, a licensed need to be obtained from the government and at this current moment, the license is issued by Ministry of Internal Affairs.
3. Under this Act also, the licensed private investigator may render private investigation services to the client including covert observation to the target under scrutiny. This can be seen in the detail clause in the act which can be interpreted as “to obtain and furnish information as to the conduct, activities, or affairs of another person”.
4. In a nutshell, with the Act in place, as long as the surveillance operations is conducted in public domain without intruding any private space, the evidence produced through a licensed private investigator is admissible in the court of law or any proceeding such as in domestic inquiry in a company’s misconduct case and others.
5. Therefore, before engaging a private investigator, it is important for you to ensure that your private investigator is licensed in order to ensure the evidence that you obtain can be used in the court of law. Please be reminded that regardless of how overwhelming the evidence that you get, if it is rejected by the court judges or the inquiry panel, then your evidence is as good as a “kacang putih” wrapper.
6. After being convinced that your private investigator is legit, then it is recommended for you to know what you want to establish in your case. For example, if you want to confirm your suspicion on your spouse’s conduct after office hour, then covert surveillance operations to observe subject’s movement will be appropriate during the identified timing. Notably, the fee charged to the client on the services rendered will be varied and for observation task, the charges will normally be on hourly basis.
7. Thus, in order for you to control your cost, it is suggested that for you to conduct some preliminary investigation on your case such as observing subject’s movement pattern for certain period of time in order for you to be able to furnish an effective timing along with other relevant information to your private investigator before the actual operations being carried out.
8. Don’t worry if you still unclear on how to go about it in engaging a private investigator, normally most licensed private investigator are approachable and you can just email or call them to explain on your situation and they will suggest some possible ways of dealing with your concern.
9. REMEMBER, GET A LICENSED PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OR ELSE YOU WILL RISK !!:-
9.1. Blackmailed by the unlicensed or fly by night Private Investigators to use the evidence gathered against you.
9.2. Evidence not admissible in court.
9.3. Untrue report
PAK WAN