Penalty Of RM2.98 Mln Imposed On Three Companies Involved In Bid-rigging Cartel - MyCC

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has imposed a penalty of RM2.98 million on three companies involved in a bid-rigging cartel for maintenance work tenders.

MyCC Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Iskandar Ismail, stated that the three companies are Abadi Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Abadi Malaysia), Kota Landskap Sdn Bhd (Kota Landskap), and Usia Maintenance Sdn Bhd (Usia Maintenance).

According to him, the cartel activities involved six tenders issued by Perbadanan Putrajaya (PPj) between 2018 and 2021, valued at nearly RM45 million, and were found to have violated Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 (Act 712).

"Following complaints about bid-rigging activities involving several projects related to building and facility maintenance, landscaping, and civil engineering work in Putrajaya, MyCC conducted a preliminary assessment and identified nine enterprises suspected of being involved in the bid-rigging cartel.

"A full investigation was then carried out, including raids on the premises of the companies involved, taking statements from 24 individuals, requesting information, and analyzing relevant evidence," he said at a press conference at the MyCC office here today.

According to Iskandar, as a result of their investigation, MyCC issued a Proposed Decision against the companies on September 10, 2024, and received their representations on November 11, 2024, and March 13, 2025.

"After a thorough review of the representations, MyCC found that the companies violated Act 712 and issued a violation decision yesterday," he said.

Commenting on the cartel's modus operandi, he stated that the cartel activities were coordinated by Abadi Malaysia. The investigation found coordination in bidding for tenders among the companies through information sharing via WhatsApp, email, and several meetings.

"MyCC also found that tender documents were prepared by employees from all three companies at a single location under the coordination of Abadi Malaysia through one of the company's directors. This modus operandi was used by this cartel group in all six projects," he said.

He added that during the raids, they found documents belonging to all companies at Kota Landskap's premises, indicating centralised coordination among the companies regarding tender document preparation.

"This collusion resulted in Usia Maintenance and Abadi Malaysia each winning two tenders. However, they were still found guilty for the remaining four tenders because evidence showed cartel behavior in all four of those tenders," he said.

Iskandar stated that for Kota Landskap, MyCC found that the company also exhibited the same cartel behavior throughout the entire process of preparing and submitting tender documents for all six tenders.

Elaborating further, Iskandar said the investigation found that the directors of the companies had family ties and were friends with each other, but no PPj officials were involved in the cartel activities.

"We have around 14 cases ongoing and we are investigating more than 500 companies involving RM2.3 billion worth of tenders. We are still going through the processes of investigation," he said.

He also urged all market players to learn from this case and renew their commitment to ethical business practices.

"Every business must compete on merit and not through collusion, while public and private organisations should always be vigilant for signs of anti-competitive behavior in the implementation of their procurement processes," he said.

-- BERNAMA