Stern action for hoarding oil
Ministry looking to charge five retailers after probe concludes
KUALA LUMPUR: Stern action will be taken by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry against five retailers for hoarding RM25,000 worth of cooking oil.
Deputy director-general (enforcement) Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman said six tonnes of oil were confiscated from the five stores over two days.
Three were in the Klang Valley, and one each in Johor and Penang.
“They are being investigated now and we hope to charge them by next week,” said Iskandar at a cooking oil factory in Balakong here.
The retailers were being investigated under the Control of Suppliers Act (1961).
He warned retailers not to hoard cooking oil to prevent panic buying by the public.
Iskandar reminded retailers to not to use the removal of subsidies of cooking oil in bottles as an opportunity to profiteer.
“We will examine their margin of profit and bring them to court if they were found to have profiteered. We also advise the public not to make panic buys of cooking oil in large amounts as that would affect the supply,” he said.
He added that ministry enforcers conducted regular monitoring of commodities and goods in areas with sudden increase in panic buying.
Iskandar said their operations were focused in Perak, Malacca and the Klang Valley, adding that there were no plans to increase the quota of subsidy of cooking oil for the 1kg packets in November.
He said the current quota of 85,000 tonnes a month was sufficient.
On Wednesday, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin announced the removal of subsidy for cooking oil for 1kg and 5kg bottles on Nov 1 while maintaining the subsidy for the 1kg plastic packets.