The Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC”) issued a news release on 19 December 2023¹, stating that that it has issued a Proposed Decision against seven enterprises for their involvement in bid rigging of four tenders for the provision of goods and services issued by the Ministry of Defence. Two of the tenders were held in the year 2016 and the other two in the year 2020.² The total worth of the tenders is approximately RM20.8 million.
 
MyCC stated that it has provisionally found the enterprises to have colluded in their bid submissions for the tenders and that its investigation also revealed that these enterprises had engaged in exchange of information, facilitation of tender submission and subcontracting as a kickback.
 
This is the second reported bid rigging case in Malaysia where the MyCC has issued a proposed decision for finding of an infringement against the enterprises that were investigated. According to Encik Iskandar Ismail, MyCC’s Chief Executive Officer, the MyCC “deem[s] cartel activities as the supreme evil in competition law” whose harmful effects may lead to inflated prices, hinder innovation and deter new entrants from entering the market.
 
Encik Iskandar added that the MyCC has ongoing investigations of cases involving more than 500 companies for tenders worth over RM2.0 billion and anticipates releasing more decisions on bid rigging cartels in the coming months.
 
Alert by Angela Hii (Associate) of the Competition Law Practice of Skrine.
 

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