KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has imposed monetary penalties totalling RM1.54mil on eight companies for his or her involvement in bid rigging involving authorities procurement.
MyCC chief government officer Iskandar Ismail (pic) mentioned the companies had shaped two cartels to govern 4 data expertise tasks involving Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (Aswara) price RM1.92mil.
He mentioned investigations have been carried out since 2017 after a criticism by Aswara, earlier than an intensive assessment by the MyCC revealed breaches by the eight companies that violated Section 4(1), which was learn along with Section 4(2) of the Competition Act 2010.
“This is due to their involvement with a sequence of anti-competition agreements or bid rigging involving Aswara procurement tasks.
“All the companies have been colluding to defraud the federal government and manipulate tenders to win (tenders and authorities procurement invoices),” he mentioned in a media convention on the MyCC workplace on Tuesday (July 5).
Iskandar mentioned the general public procurement process was set to make sure aggressive bids from bidders and companies have been required to behave responsibly.
“Interested bidders needed to put together and hand in their provide independently of one another and tenders or invoices produced based mostly on secret preparations or cooperation between bidders for a similar tender would hinder competitors and trigger a false notion that the procurement course of was honest.
“The behaviour of the companies would jeopardise the aggressive course of and trigger losses to the federal government, and leakages in public funds,” he added.
Iskandar mentioned in addition to fines, the eight companies could possibly be subjected to motion underneath the Integrity in Public Procurement Circular (PK 1.6) learn along with Non-compliance in Public Procurement Circular (PK 8) of the Finance Ministry efficient June 1.
Under that motion, people or entities discovered involved in bid rigging in public procurement might have their registration suspended for a most of 5 years, blacklisted and banned from becoming a member of or receiving procurement presents issued by authorities companies during the suspension.
“This resolution reveals MyCC’s dedication to proceed tackling the difficulty of companies conspiring to handle public funds by bid rigging,” he added. – Bernama
