KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): Malaysia’s anti-trust agency is proposing fines against two enterprises for their alleged involvement in a bid-rigging cartel linked to the Central Spine Road construction tender.
The two firms were provisionally found to have infringed Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 in their tender for a contract valued at RM285 million issued by the Public Works Department, the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) said in a statement.
“It is important to highlight that at this stage, the proposed decision is a provisional and it should not be taken that these enterprises have conclusively infringed Act 712,” said MyCC chairman Tan Sri Idris Harun.
The identity of the firms, the latest to be ensnared in the project costing over RM7 billion, and the proposed penalty were not disclosed in the statement.
Under the law also known as Act 712, a firm will be given the opportunity to explain and submit written representations to MyCC within 30 days of receiving a proposed decision.
The commission will then make a final decision on whether an infringement has been committed and disclose the penalty to be imposed. A firm can ask the Competition Appeal Tribunal to re-examine MyCC’s decision and the last avenue for appeal would be to initiate a judicial review.
Investigations found that the two enterprises agreed to engage in coordinated information-sharing and collusion in the preparation and submission of their bids, the commission said.
The agreement had the goal of “significantly preventing, restricting or distorting competition” in the tender for the project, MyCC added.
Last year, MyCC issued fines totalling RM92 million on eight firms for their involvement in fixing construction tenders of the project.
The Central Spine Road is a 390km toll-free expressway that will connect Kuala Krai, Kelantan to Kuala Pilah in Negeri Sembilan. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.