Grab surprised by MyCC’s proposed fine, insists it operated by the book
PUCHONG: Grab says it was shocked by the Malaysia Competition Commission’s (MyCC) proposal to slap the former with a whopping RM86.7 million fine.
In a statement today, Grab said that the company had fully complied with the Competitions Act 2010 in its conduct.
“We are surprised by the proposed decision that we received this morning.
“While our legal team is studying the proposed decision, we believe that it is common practice for businesses to decide upon the availability and type of third-party advertising on their respective platforms, tailored according to consumers’ needs and feedback, ” said Grab.
Earlier today, MyCC proposed the fine against Grab Inc, Grab Car Sdn Bhd and MyTeksi Sdn Bhd (Grab) for collectively breaching the Competition Act.
A daily penalty of RM15,000 has also been imposed on the e-hailing company from the date of service of the proposed decision.
However, MyCC chief executive officerIskandar Ismail stressed that this was merely a proposal and was not final.
He alleged that Grab had abused its dominant position by imposing a number of restrictive clauses on its drivers that prevented them from promoting and providing advertising services for Grab’s competitors in the e-hailing and transit media advertising market.
MyCC had said last year that it would probe Grab for possible anti-competitive behaviour following its acquisition of Uber Technologies Inc’s South-East Asian business.
Grab responded by saying it had cooperated with MyCC and had not been informed of any breaches since buying off its rival.
Uber’s deal to take a 27.5% stake in Grab in exchange had earlier raised a red flag with Singapore’s competition watchdog, which last September fined both Grab and Uber a total of S$13mil (RM39.4mil) and imposed other measures to address competition concerns.
The Philippines had also fined both companies 16 million pesos (RM1.3mil) last October, saying they had violated the conditions set by its competition regulator.
