Eight It Firms Busted For Bid Rigging In Gov T Contracts

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Eight local IT companies are facing a total fine of nearly RM2 million after they were recently found guilty of rigging government procurement bids, said Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC)

MyCC chief executive officer Iskandar Ismail said the companies had formed cartels among themselves to cheat when submitting quotations and tender documents for four separate IT projects to the National Academy of Arts Culture and Heritage (Aswara)
Detailing the case, he said MyCC launched an investigation against the enterprises after they received a complaint from the academy, which became suspicious over some anomalies in the procurement process involving three quotations and a tender
"The bid riggings happened about two to three years ago
"MyCC probe found that the eight enterprises had colluded by sharing their quotations and tender proposal information with each other, manipulating prices and preparing documents for one another
"The winner of the projects also shared their profits with the other bidders (of the cartel)," he said during a press conference at the commission's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today
By doing this, Iskandar said, the companies had committed 'cover bidding', which is an infringement of Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010
The companies involved are Tuah Packet Sdn Bhd, Caliber Interconnects Sdn Bhd, Aliran Digital Sdn Bhd, Viamed Sdn Bhd, Novatis Resources Sdn Bhd, Silver Tech Synergy Sdn Bhd, Basenet Technology Sdn Bhd, and Venture Nucleus (M) Sdn Bhd
According to Iskandar, the companies are now facing a total of RM1.93 million in fines for the offences, which amounts to more than the total project cost of RM1.92 million.
Iskandar said the high amount of penalty, which is yet to be finalised pending the companies' return submissions on the case, would hopefully serve as a lesson to others that they would lose much more than what they could possibly gain by flouting the country's anti-cartel law
Iskandar said MyCC would also submit their final decision on the case to all relevant ministries for their future reference when opening project opportunities
He added that the commission welcomed other government agencies who had previously used the IT companies' services to contact MyCC should they have any suspicion of possible anti-competition activities. - Mkini

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