Malaysia: MyCC Issues Another Proposed Decision For Bid Rigging Against Seven Enterprises

Previously, we have highlighted the Malaysia Competition Commission ("MyCC")'s intense efforts in investigating suspected bid rigging activities in Malaysia following its revelation that it is investigating 500 companies suspected of being involved in rigging the bidding process of contracts worth RM2 billion across industries.¹

MyCC's Latest Provisional Finding of Bid Rigging

Further recent developments on this front undoubtedly underscore MyCC's commitment to combat bid rigging.

On 19 December 2023, MyCC announced that it has issued a provisional decision against seven (7) enterprises for their involvement in bid rigging of the following four (4) tenders for the provision of goods and services issued by the Ministry of Defence worth approximately RM20.8 million.²

It provisionally found that these enterprises had colluded in their bid submissions for the respective tenders and engaged in bid rigging through the exchange of information, facilitation of tender submission and subcontracting as kickback.

Bid Rigging Remains One of MyCC's Priorities

In the same announcement, MyCC has also expressed that one of its current priorities include actively targeting bid rigging cartels and its commitment to collaborate with the government to eliminate bid rigging cartels, which is in tandem with the aspiration of the government.

As a taste of things to come, MyCC also indicated that it remains dedicated to its ongoing investigations into bid rigging cartels and anticipates releasing more decisions in the coming months.

In light of the substantial number of ongoing investigations by MyCC against suspected bid rigging, businesses are strongly encouraged to proactively conduct self-assessments and scrutinize their business practices, bidding processes, and contractual agreements to ensure strict compliance with competition laws. If MyCC makes a finding of infringement, it can inter alia impose a financial penalty up to 10% of the worldwide turnover of an enterprise over the period during which an infringement occurred.

Footnotes

1. News article by Hailey Chung for The Edge titled "MyCC probing 500 companies suspected of bid-rigging contracts worth RM 2 bil" dated 23 June 2022, retrieved from: https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/mycc-probing-500-companies-suspected-bidrigging-contracts-worth-rm2-bil on 17 May 2023

2. News release by MyCC titled "MyCC Issues Another Proposed Decision for Bid Rigging Against Seven Enterprises" dated 19 December 2023, retrieved from: https://www.mycc.gov.my/media-release/mycc-issues-another-proposed-decision-for-bid-rigging-against-seven-enterprises on 20 December 2023

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