Domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali said that since 2024, MyCC has been working to enhance enforcement against bid rigging cartels.

He said efforts to curb bid rigging were important to ensure that the activity would not thwart the government’s efforts to prioritise tender methods in transparent procurement governance.

“The action taken against companies that implement anti-competitive practices reflects the government’s commitment to creating a healthy competitive ecosystem in the market.

“This will contribute to the country’s economic growth, improve quality as well as create choice and reasonable prices of goods and competitive services for the benefit of consumers,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from William Leong (PH-Selayang) on the effectiveness of MyCC in enforcing the Competition Act 2010 (Act 712) and the number of investigations that had led to successful prosecutions and convictions for the period of 2014 to 2024.

Among the sectors involved in bid rigging are services, utilities, construction, food and beverage, and information technology.

Armizan said that since Act 712 came into effect, MyCC as an independent and quasi-judicial body in Malaysia had conducted investigations into 339 enterprises across various industries including transportation, manufacturing, food, services, education, insurance, agriculture, and public procurement.

He said that as a result of the investigations, MyCC had issued findings of violations under Section 40 of Act 712 involving 14 cases covering 259 enterprises.

“A total of 257 enterprises were found to be involved in cartel activities, and two enterprises were found to have abused their monopoly position. These decisions resulted in financial penalties of RM571.5 million,” he said.

To a supplementary question from Leong on the steps taken by the government to strengthen Act 712, Armizan said the ministry was in the process of amending the Act, particularly in the context of strengthening and streamlining the enforcement process and introducing a merger control regime.

“The draft amendment has been approved by the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and the ministry is circulating it to other ministries for feedback. We hope that at the end of this sitting, we will at least be able to table it for the first reading,” he said.