Indonesia: Antitrust Body’s Decision Against Grab Can Turn Away Foreign Investors: Attorney

• Indonesia’s anti-trust watchdog announced fines totalling IDR49bn (USD3.13mn) for Grab and its business partner after finding it guilty of breaking anti-monopoly laws, a verdict the ride-hailing firm vowed to appeal.
• The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) said it had found Grab had discriminated against its drivers, prioritising those provided by partner PT Teknologi Pengangkutan Indonesia (TPI) to the Softbank-backed firm.
• In a statement, Dinni Melanie, the chair of the watchdog judicial panel, said it had found Grab infringed the anti-monopoly laws after evaluating the case on Thursday evening.
• The agency imposed a fine of IDR30bn on Grab and a penalty of IDR19bn on TPI. A spokesman for Grab told Reuters the firm would appeal the verdict.
• “Grab’s view is that it has not violated any regulation, engaged in any anti-competitive business practices, or injured any third parties,” he said, characterising the watchdog’s findings as “unsubstantiated allegations”.
• The KPPU’s ‘groundless’ decision against Grab Indonesia sets a negative precedent for future foreign investments, the company’s lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said in a statement last week.
• Attorney Paris found that the business watchdog’s decision can interfere with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s plan to attract more foreign investment.
• “KPPU has punished foreign investors Grab and TPI, who have largely invested in the country and generated more employment, based on considerations that contradict with the legal facts,” Paris said in a statement on 2 Jul 20.

External Link : https://jakartaglobe.id/business/antitrust-bodys-decision-against-grab-can-turn-away-foreign-investors-attorney

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gojek-grab-indonesia/indonesias-anti-trust-watchdog-levies-3-million-in-fines-on-grab-and-partner-idUSKBN24414H