Grabcar was not in competition with Malaysian cabbies: court filing

 

Grabcar's e-hailing business is not in direct competition with Malaysian taxis, according to a court filing.

In the e-hailing company's statement of defence for a lawsuit, it claimed that its business involved facilitating arrangements, bookings or transactions for the provision of land transport services by drivers for passengers through an online mobile platform.

"Our business is therefore not in direct competition with the street-hailing business of taxi drivers and rental car drivers of which the plaintiff represents," Grabcar claimed in the court document dated yesterday.

The e-hailing firm's court filing is a response to a lawsuit against it by a group of Malaysian cabbies who claimed the company was running an illegal e-hailing service from 2014 to 2017.

According to its statement of defence, Grab contended that the then unregulated space for e-hailing services meant there was no necessity under the law for the firm to obtain a special license nor was there a government agency to apply for one from.

Grabcar claimed that only when the amendments to the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Act 2017 and Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (Amendment) Act 2017 came into force on July 12 2016, were it and other e-hailing operators given a one-year moratorium by the Transport Ministry to obtain an intermediation license.

"Following the introduction of the LPTAA 2017 and CVLBAA 2017, the defendant (Grabcar), in compliance with the new laws, then applied for and was granted an intermediation license on March 28, 2019.

"As such, it is denied that the defendant had carried on its operations unlawfully from May 16, 2014, to July 27, 2017, as alleged or at all," the firm claimed.

Grabcar also, among others, alleged that the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) has never made a finding that the firm had infringed upon the provisions of the Competition Act 2010.

It also contended that the cabbies failed to show in what way they had suffered damages or loss over any alleged action of the firm.

"The claims by the plaintiff has no reasonable cause of action or that its claims are plainly and obviously frivolous and unsustainable in law," Grabcar claimed. - Mkini