KUALA LUMPUR: Anti-trust watchdog Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has started a probe into private firm MyEG Services Bhd following complaints of it monopolising online renewal of permits for foreign workers.

MyCC chief executive officer Dr Mohd Khalid Abdul Samad said the commission was aware of the sentiment from several quarters. 

“MyCC has taken note of the complaints regarding MyEG Services Bhd and is looking into it from the aspect of competition. Any updates will be announced accordingly,” he said in a brief email to The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

Putrajaya appointed MyEG beginning Jan 5 this year to be in charge of renewing foreign workers’ permits. The company said in a Jan 12 statement that its role went beyond renewing permits. Among others, it could update and analyse the database of legal foreign workers. Many, including Pakatan Rakyat, have raised concerns about Putrajaya’s decision to outsource the renewal of the foreign workers’ permits to the private firm, saying it would threaten the country’s security and sovereignty because of the biometric data involved.

Among the complaints included the RM38 fee, which was defended by the Home Ministry as the company had to bear the operational and management cost of the services, including online applications, registration of employers’ identification and password, personal bonds for foreign workers with problems, fees for the door-to-door delivery of the permits, as well as biometric verifications. Putrajaya’s decision sent MyEG’s share price up by 19% from RM2.10 on Jan 2 to RM2.50 last Friday.

“Based on the latest announcement, Datuk Raja Munir Shah Raja Mustapa, a major shareholder who is also former Penang Umno information chief and Tanjung Umno deputy division chief, owns 374,135,796 units of shares or 31.1% of the company [MyEG].

“The 19% increase in MyEG share prices in the last few days has given Raja Munir an RM137 million profit on paper,” Semambu assemblyman Lee Chean Chung of PKR had said in a statement. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 28, 2015