KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has failed to reissue the RM10 million fines on MAS and AirAsia Bhd after the Federal Court dismissed its bid today.
The two airlines were earlier compounded for breaching a market-sharing regulation.
MyCC was then ordered to pay MAS and AirAsia RM60,000 in costs.
Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, who chaired the apex court panel, was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today that it is a unanimous decision and not the appropriate case for the court to answer all the questions of law posed by MyCC.
She was on the bench with Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Mary Lim.
Last April, the two carriers won their appeals to quash the RM10 million fine imposed on each of them by MyCC for breaching a market-sharing prohibition.
A Court of Appeal three-member bench led by Datuk Hanipah Farikullah allowed the appeals by both air carriers to reinstate the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) that found they did not infringe Section 4 (2) of the Competition Act 2010.
MyCC fined MAS and AirAsia RM10 million each in 2014 after finding that both airliners had breached the market sharing prohibition under Section 4 (2) of the Competition Act by entering into an agreement on sharing markets in the air transport services sector within Malaysia.
Both airlines then appealed over the fine and on February 18, 2016, CAT set aside MyCC’s decision.
MyCC then filed a judicial review application in the high court seeking for a certiorari order to quash CAT’s decision and to reinstate its (MyCC) decision in imposing the fines on MAS and AirAsia.
In December 2018, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed MyCC’s judicial review and reinstated its (MyCC) decision to impose the fine on both airlines prompting MAS and AirAsia to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The RM10 million fine by MyCC was based on flights by both the airlines in the four months between January 1 and April 30, 2012, on the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur-Kuching, Kuala Lumpur-Sandakan and Kuala Lumpur-Sibu routes. – The Vibes, February 9, 2022
