PETALING JAYA, March 26 — Action has been taken against five businesses for holding pre-Goods and Services Tax (GST) sales from January.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek said action was taken under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act against operators who mislead consumers into buying goods in bulk, fearing there would be a price increase when GST starts on April 1. 

He said the ministry would continue to monitor unscrupulous traders and set up a task force comprising 2,000 personnel as watchdogs to weed out businesses exploiting the GST. 

“We will set up a war room which will be manned by 40 people daily and it will be operating 24 hours a day for the first month of the implementation of GST,” Hasan said at the launch of the Malaysian Business Ethics guidebook yesterday. 

“The war room will be based at the ministry’s office in Putrajaya and it will oversee activities and transactions across the nation.”

Hasan warned that organising such promotional sales was an offence as it might cause “panic-buying”.

“These businesses make it seem like prices are going to increase after GST is implemented,” he said. 

“Tell us who are organising these sales and we will look into it. Don’t be fooled by their marketing ploys.”

Hasan said business operators must get the ministry’s approval before offering any promotional sales.  

However, he said public participation was essential to ensure the ministry could  take action against profiteering businesses.

“The public must provide us with full details when they lodge a complaint for us to take action,” he said.