PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya has tightened background checks for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme after approvals were placed under the Home Ministry.

Singapore's The Straits Times reported that nearly 4,000 applicants have been left in the lurch, as their applications have stalled since September last year.

Applications were usually processed within two months before the Home Ministry were involved.

"A letter of good conduct (for the applicant) has been a requirement since 2002, it acts as the first line of defence," a Special Branch official told The Straits Times.

"But we are stricter now, due to heightened security threats such as terrorism and (criminal) syndicates, and we wouldn't want these people to jeopardise public order," he added.

The Singaporean portal said among the possible security concerns are illegal casinos, betting games and financial scams led by foreign nationals, as well as money laundering, with foreign dirty cash parked in housing units.

MM2H Agents Association president Lim Kok Sai reportedly said the delay in approvals could cause Malaysia to lose up to RM1bil a year.

The Straits Times said MM2H Agents Association had complained about the backlog, leading to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi announcing the setting up of a task force to speed up the approval process for backlogged applications.

"We hope that with this task force, we will be able to resolve all 3,727 applications in four months," Datuk Mohamaddin told The Straits Times.

"This vetting process needs to be done carefully, because it involves security," he added.

The waiting applicants are mainly from China, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, India and Britain.

The MM2H programme, a 10-year visa programme to attract wealthy expatriates, has approved the long-stay visas for more than 40,000 people from 131 countries.

The main participants are from China, followed by Japan, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Korea, Iran and Singapore.