KUALA LUMPUR: The Shah Alam High Court has rejected a legal challenge by five warehouse operators, involved in a price-fixing cartel of cargo handling services, against a 2021 decision by The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC).
In a statement today, MyCC said the judicial review, ruled yesterday, was the second attempt of the five operators to quash the decision.
The first appeal was made to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in 2021 in which CAT decided in favour of MyCC.
"In 2017, MyCC launched an investigation into seven warehouse operators following reports of potential price-fixing cartel activities related to the provision of long-length and heavy-lift import and export cargo services at Port Klang.
"MyCC then determined that the actions of these operators clearly infringed Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 and issued an Infringement Decision against the seven warehouse operators involved in the price-fixing cartel, covering the period from May 2017 to December 2019.
"Financial penalties totaling RM1.043 million were imposed. While two operators accepted the decision, the other five operators contested the ruling by MyCC, which led to this judicial review - which has now been dismissed," the statement read.
The applicants of the judicial review were; SAL Agencies Sdn Bhd; WCS Warehousing Sdn Bhd; Regional Synergy (M) Sdn Bhd; Intrexim Sdn Bhd; and Pioneerpac Sdn Bhd.
MyCC said the court, in its judgment, upheld the findings of the CAT, affirming that these operators had engaged in illegal price-fixing and dismissed their judicial review application.
"Judge, Jamhirah Ali ruled that these five members of the cartel were not entitled to any form of relief and confirmed the legality of actions taken by MyCC in 2021.
"The same judgment emphasised that there was no illegality, irrationality, or procedural impropriety that would justify overturning the MyCC decision."
They said consequently, the 2021 decision by MyCC to impose a financial penalty against the warehouse cartels was reaffirmed.
Meanwhile, MyCC chief executive officer Iskandar Ismail described the verdict as a strong endorsement of enforcement efforts by MyCC.
"(This) sends a clear message that any form of cartels will not be tolerated. The dismissal reinforces MyCC's strong commitment to eliminating cartel behaviours and serves as a warning to all cartels out there.
"Cartel activities indeed are the supreme evil under competition law and MyCC will continue to fight and act decisively against any attempts to undermine healthy market competition," the statement quoted him as saying.