by SHAFIQQUL ALIFF / pic by TMR FILE

HUNDREDS of companies were found to be involved in bid-rigging for public procurement by the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) investigation, said the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi (picture).

Nanta Linggi said the MyCC will disclose details. 

“I will not give you any specific figures, but they’re quite a number of companies in the hundreds who are involved in this. I will leave specific figures to be informed by MyCC itself and I think MyCC does this work,” he said.

He said this after launching the 3rd Malaysia Competition Law Conference 2022 on behalf of Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. 

On behalf of PM, Nanta said the role of MyCC will be increasingly important and filled with challenges. 

In his speech, Ismail Sabri said that when the Competition Act 2010 was gazetted in 2010, he was then the minister of domestic trade, co-operatives, and consumerism and responsible for bringing the motion to Parliament. 

“Therefore, the government is ready to get policy approval for amendments to strengthen MyCC by increasing its human capital and budget. The responsibility to fight cartels, deal with abusive monopolies and problematic mergers is a difficult task. 

“I would like to emphasise that the government fully supports MyCC’s efforts to introduce this regime to ensure that the country’s economy continues to grow rapidly,” he said.  

Nanta said MyCC is in the process of amending the Competition Act 2010 and the Competition Commission Act 2010 since 2019 and the amendment is to empower MyCC to address common issues in the Act more effectively and efficiently.

He said the amendment to the law is to see in which part they feel it is not enough because they want to have greater focus and power, especially in mergers and acquisitions.

“This is because the mergers and the acquisitions can cause cartels and monopolies. We realise that it is happening and the amendments are in step with time and the requirements as far as MyCC is concerned,” Nanta said.