SUKANTA HALDER

Bangladesh Competition Commission fined Kazi Farms Tk 5 crore and Suguna Food and Feeds Bangladesh Tk 3.44 crore in two cases for unusual increase in broiler chicken prices.

The companies were fined for violating Section 15 of the Competition Act, 2012, Pradip Ranjan Chakraborty, chairperson of the commission, said.

The Section 15 of the Competition Act says that no person shall directly or indirectly enter into any agreement or collusion -- in respect of production, supply, distribution, storage or acquisition of any goods or services -- which causes or is likely to cause an adverse effect on competition or creates monopoly or oligopoly in the market.

The two companies will have to pay the fine in 10 working days, he said. For failure to clear the fine in time, the two will have to pay an additional fine of Tk 1 lakh every day, Chakraborty said.

The two companies can also appeal against the verdict to the commerce ministry, he said.

In September last year, the competition commission filed 44 cases against a host of individuals and organisations, accusing them of creating an artificial crisis that led to abnormal hike in the prices of items like rice, flour, eggs, poultry and toiletries.

Kazi Farms and Suguna Food and Feeds Bangladesh Private Limited were also among those sued.

The commission operates under the commerce ministry and is empowered to probe, try, and punish errant companies for breaching competition laws. The commission operates under Competition Act, 2012, which allows it to dispose of cases without going to a court.

James Amalanathan, country head of the Suguna, said, “I don’t understand why they have fined us. This is baseless. We have given explanation from our end and all the data…We are going for an appeal.”

Kazi Farms didn’t reply to phone calls and messages sent by The Daily Star for comment on the matter.