Transport Malta says it has no responsibility for a used car mileage scam, saying it relies on documents verified by police and customs officials to register imported cars.

As of Thursday, 57 people had filed official complaints to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority after realising their cars had tens of thousands of kilometres wiped off the clock

Two dealers of the Japan-imported cars - Rokku and Tal-Qasab - are being investigated by police and have been suspended by the Used Vehicles Importers Association.

In its first statement since the scandal was revealed five days ago, Transport Malta told Times of Malta it had no responsibility for checking if the vehicles' mileage gauges match a pre-shipping technical inspection. 

"Transport Malta does not inspect any vehicles coming from non-EU countries including Japan," it said.

"The role of TM is to register such vehicles with the documents submitted by the motor dealer which include Customs and Police verifications including a passed VRT test.

"The Malta Police Force has the full support and cooperation of the Ministry and Transport Malta during the investigation on the matter which is ongoing," it added.

One of the dealerships being investigated by police for alleged fraud. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Who is responsible?

Times of Malta has seen a copy of the Customs and Police Inspection Form, used to register a used vehicle imported from non-EU countries.

In section B, titled 'Vehicle & Engine Details', Transport Malta asks the police to write down the vehicle mileage at the time of inspection. It is understood that the authority then registers the vehicle based on the data on the police form and does not do further checks.

The form seems to suggest that the police are indeed legally bound to verify the vehicle's real mileage and detect any wrongdoing or fraudulent activity on the odometer.

The 'mileage' section of the Transport Malta form should be filled out by police.

However, it is unclear at which point in the importation process the police perform this inspection and whether there are other inspections throughout the process.

Questions have been sent to the police.

Malta Today reported last week that the scam, which runs back as early as 2019, saw the dealerships allegedly register cars imported from Japan with a lower mileage count than what they had actually accumulated.

It said hundreds of customers were affected.