KUALA LUMPUR: Since March 1, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDN) has conducted inspections on 2,239 business premises and issued 66 notices as part of its Ops Kesan 2024, with the primary goal of monitoring the impact of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) increase from six to eight percent.
All traders who receive the notice must provide feedback within four days to the ministry to prove there are no unreasonable price hikes, explained Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Fuziah Salleh, during a Dewan Rakyat question and answer session today.
“After the four days, if we observe an unreasonable increase, we will request an additional four days to gather further details, as KPDN has the authority to calculate every cost and value,“ she added.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Nurul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap), seeking updates on Ops Kesan and efforts to alleviate public concerns regarding the SST rate hike.
In an earlier statement, KPDN Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali highlighted that Ops Kesan, executed under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, is centred on monitoring and enforcement, to prevent traders at all levels from exploiting situations by hoarding or inflating prices, contravening anti-profiteering laws.
In response to the original question from Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu) about the number of traders penalised under the Act in 2023, Fuziah stated that 5,904 cases were recorded, with compound fines and penalties exceeding RM1.46 million.
Addressing Jalaluddin’s follow-up question on whether hotels, restaurants, Ramadan bazaars, and food festivals are also monitored under the Act, she mentioned that all these types of businesses are regulated, and advised the public to lodge complains regarding any profiteering for the ministry’s further action. –Bernama
