PUTRAJAYA, June 18 — The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) has taken acted against a trader who went viral on social media for selling cooking gas above controlled prices in Puchong, Selangor.
KPDN enforcement director general Datuk Azman Adam said in a statement today that a written notice under Section 21 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 has been issued to the trader for him to submit feedback on the sale price and cost of cooking gas canisters they sold within five working days.
The trader had used the recent diesel subsidy rationalisation as an excuse to hike up their prices in a video recording that subsequently went viral, he said.
“The ministry managed to identify the address of the trader’s premises and the location of the lorry that makes deliveries to Bandar Bukit Puchong, Puchong, Selangor based on preliminary investigations of the video.
“An KPDN enforcement team from Putrajaya conducted an investigation that began at 4pm by making a test purchase from the company to identify the sale price,” he said, adding that the test buy revealed that a 14-kilogramme (kg) cooking gas canister was sold at RM34 compared to the set control price of RM26.60.
Azman said the enforcement team subsequently confiscated the canister and several business documents to assist their investigations under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 for selling controlled items above control prices.
He also shared that the ministry had implemented Ops Kesan 2.0 to study the impact of the recent implementation of targeted diesel subsidy to ensure there was no element of profiteering.
“993 premises throughout the country have been inspected and 209 written notices were issued based on statistics of the operation from May 20 to June 17,” he added. — Bernama
