244 Premises Found Having Elements Of Profiteering - Fuziah Salleh

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- A total of 244 out of 21,038 premises inspected by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) were found to have elements of profiteering since Ops Kesan 2.0 was launched on June 8.

Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) Datuk Fuziah Salleh said written notices to the premises involved had been issued.

"The written notice is like a letter of instruction because they have to provide a lot of information such as the amount of transportation costs, production and so on.

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"If there is an element of profiteering, investigation papers will be opened and if found guilty, they will be investigated under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011," she said during a question and answer session at Dewan Negara today.

She said this when replying a supplementary question by Senator Datuk Salehuddin Saidin who wanted to know KPDN's action against premises that sell goods at exorbitant prices.

Ops Kesan 2.0 aims to ensure that there is no excessive increase in the price of goods and services following the adjustment of diesel retail price announced by the government.

Meanwhile, in response to a question by Senator Hussin Ismail who was curious about the diesel subsidy for the group of agricultural vehicles that use diesel, Fuziah said the parties involved can submit an appeal to obtain a diesel subsidy to the Appeals Committee handled by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

"So far, 'backhoes' are not included in the 23 categories that receive diesel subsidies because they provide service and not carry goods.

"They can bring a proposal for a memorandum of engagement with the ministries involved because we at KPDN are implementing it and I have also received appeals submitted by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representing them," she said.

Fuziah also said KPDN has identified four construction companies suspected of supplying goods at high prices and the companies involved have been called to KPDN headquarters to give an explanation.

"It is to explain and give justification if it is true or not that there is profiteering," she said.

She was replying a question by Hussin who wanted to know the measures taken by KPDN to deal with inflation and the double effect of the increase in the price of essential goods and building materials following the diesel subsidy adjustment.

-- BERNAMA