The battle between the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) and Grab won’t be ending soon, as the Federal Court has allowed the application by commission to stay the hearing of Grab’s legal challenge against a proposed RM86.77 million fine, Bernama reported. The judicial review hearing was scheduled to begin next Monday at the KL High Court.
The decision was made by a three-member bench chaired by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf. “We grant the order of an interim stay of the judicial review hearing pending the disposal of MyCC’s leave application (before the Federal Court). We adjourned today’s matter, pending the Court of Appeal grounds of judgment being made available to MyCC,” said Rohana.
MyCC had sought to stay the hearing, saying it had yet to be provided with the full written grounds of the Court of Appeal ruling that granted the judicial review leave. “We need to see how the Court of Appeal grounds of judgment dealt with the issue. The regulator would be put in a difficult position if the Monday’s hearing commences while the appeal before the Federal Court is yet to conclude,” said counsel Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.
Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, the lawyer for Grab, objected to the stay application as the case had been pending since 2019.
Here’s the background and timeline. MyCC had alleged that Grab abused its dominant position by imposing a restrictive clause on its drivers, effectively preventing them from promoting Grab’s current and potential competitors on e-hailing platforms and in transit media advertising. The commission proposed a fine of RM86.77 million.
The case has since gone from the High Court to the Court of Appeal and now to the Federal Court, which is the highest in the hierarchy of Malaysian courts. Small change for Grab and they should just pay up and move on? Sometimes, it’s not just about the money, but also the admission of guilt.
On a separate and more current note, MyCC – which stated aim is to implement and enforce the provisions of the Competition Act 2010 and protect the competitive process for the benefit of businesses, consumers and the economy – also has its eyes on PLUS and Touch n Go regarding the less-than-smooth recent RFID rollout on the North South Highway.
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Still remember the interview of Grab founder the purpose of start Grab is to make sure that public can have more reasonable fare against taxi. However, once they managed to “eliminate” taxi and start to monopoly, Grab starts to charge us very high fare. I would that even higher than metered taxi!!!
What are you talking about? If GRAB is really charging high fare, why the public hasn’t go back to taxi?
While public isn’t going back to taxis, they aren’t taking Grab either. Due to Covid, most prefer to drive their own nowadays.
Yes, many are driving because of covid and not because grab is worst than taxi.
And remember all that money goes to Singapore. Born & bred in Msia but siphon off money to Singapore and setting up a near monopoly here. Traitors Time we support taxis again and kick Grab out of here.
The monopoly here must be control by local ppl.
this is good, but what about Grab acquisition of Uber? In Singapore because of that, Grab SG was fined SGD 13 million due to the monopoly. and TnG monopoly, it has been decades and now only they wanna take action? Selama ni tidur, mabuk ketum?
There’s a good reason GRAB is moving its HQ to Singapore for good. The Malaysia government didn’t provide much needed startup investment funds for GRAB application and appeal but impose hefty fines.
Copy paste: “what about Grab acquisition of Uber? In Singapore because of that, Grab SG was fined SGD 13 million”
After taking into account the exchange rate, SGD 13 mil is obviously still much less than RM86.77 mil.
Bro, u lupa copycat that part about TnG monopoly & mabuk ketum…
There are other competitors and taxis other than grab.
Why don’t mycc go after bernas, puspakom, touch n go, national 5G network, malaysia airports, ….these are the real monopolies.
There are also Linux so why EU Govt keep on harping & giving massive fines to Microsoft for being a monopoly even tho there are competitors?
Those are the big G approved so that rakyat have job opportunities & steady income.
Where is the monopoly? Grab if I’m not mistaken was the first e-hailing service provider in malaysia when they started as MyTeksi? Then years later, came numbers of other e-hailing service provider, but of course being established years earlier, Grab still is the no.1 choice of people obviously due to much more drivers & more coverage than the other e-hailing companies.
As for this statement, “effectively preventing them from promoting Grab’s current and potential competitors on e-hailing platforms..”, why would you allow your competitors be promoted on your car?? I don’t understand..
Agreed sometimes grab charging quite high fares but still better than old taxi era when i was poor student, chop u kaw2 when u needed transports eagerly. Taking taxies feels like being bullied and scary experiences. I rather run walk 3km go home if missed the bus.