Anand Raj

Practice Areas

Tax, Trade & Customs

Competition Law & Antitrust

Career

Anand Raj (partner since 2003) was admitted as an Advocate in 1996. He practises in all aspects of competition law and tax disputes. Anand is ranked/recognized, amongst others, as:

•“Band 1” in Competition/Antitrust (2015-2023) by Chambers Asia-Pacific

•“Band 1” by Chambers Asia-Pacific for Tax (2011–2021)

•“Expert” (2013 – 2018) and “Global Leader” (2019–2021) in Competition by Who’s Who Legal

•Tier 1 by International Tax Review (ITR) as “Leaders in their Field” in Tax (2011–2022)

•Asia Tax Disputes and Litigation Practice Leader by ITR (2017)

•“Expert” (2016–2018) and “Global Leader” (2019-2021) in the Who’s Who Legal Corporate Tax Lawyers

Professional Memberships

• Vice President, Malaysian Bar

• Co-Chairperson, Malaysian Bar Council Corporate and Commercial Law Committee (CCLC)

• Chairperson of the Bar Council Tax and Customs Committee

• Co-Chairperson of the Bar Council Strategic Litigation Committee

• Chairperson of the Competition Law Sub-Committee under CCLC

• Chair of LAWASIA’s Anti-Trust & Competition Law Committee

• International Ambassador of the American Bar Association’s (“ABA’s”) Antitrust Committee

• Member of the ABA’s Antitrust Committee and Tax Committee

• Former Co-Chair of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association’s Competition Law Committee

• Chairperson, CCLC Competition Law Subcommittee

• Former Chair, International Fiscal Association (IFA) Malaysian Branch

• Chair, Tax Sub-Committee of the Malaysian Bar Council

• Member, Competition Law Sub-Committee of the Malaysian Bar Council

• Member, International Bar Association (IBA)

• Member, Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA)

• Former Co-chair, IPBA Competition Law Committee

• Former Chairperson, American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)’s Tax Committee

• Rapporteur for Malaysia, International Bar Association (IBA) Antitrust Committee

Publications

•Bloomberg BNA's Business Operations in Malaysia – (co-author)

•Asia Pacific Tax Bulletin published by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam – (contributor)

• Tax Nasional published by the Malaysian Institute of Taxation

• Akauntan Nasional (now known as Accountants Today) published by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants

Languages Spoken

English, Malay

Experience

Competition Law – Advisory and Representation

Anand regularly represents and advises MNCs, GLCs, foreign and Malaysian enterprises on Competition Law in industries as diverse as aviation, financial services, telecommunications and multimedia, pharmaceuticals, insurance, logistics, hospitality, FMCG, manufacturing and the automotive sector, amongst others. Anand regularly conducts trainings and workshops for clients and is active in providing feedback to the relevant authorities and agencies.

Anand’s experience in competition law includes, but is not limited to, matters related to:

• Representing clients in investigations by the Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC”);

• Prohibitions on horizontal and vertical agreements;

• Monopoly and abuse of dominance;

• Cartel investigations;

• Litigation;

• Undertakings;

• Leniency applications;

• Whistle-blowing programmes;

• Dawn raids;

• Interlocking Directorates;

• No-Poach Agreements;

• Employment and Antitrust/Competition Law; and

• Data Privacy and Antitrust/Competition Law.

Some of Anand’s matters include:

• Advising and representing a number of general insurers in Malaysia who have been investigated by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) for an alleged horizontal infringement.

• Advised and successfully assisted and acted for Korean Airlines Co Ltd in filing a notice and application for an anticipated merger. The team handled Malaysia’s first ever successful merger control notification under the new Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015. This merger notification was approved by the Malaysian Aviation Commission in September 2021.

• Advised one of the largest global technology companies on competition law issues arising from the company’s data collection process, including any potential abuse of dominance in the video-sharing platform market.

• Successfully handled the first substantial case closed via undertakings which resulted in closures without findings of infringement including for Giga Shipping and Nexus Mega Carriers, amongst others. MyCC investigated our clients following a complaint of alleged abuse of dominance vis-a-vis exclusivity clauses.

• Advised on competition law and antitrust concerns which arose from the removal of a director for failing to disclose a position of risk.

• Advised an operator in the small package delivery and freight forwarding sector that monitors its market shares in Europe on the basis of the relevant market segmentations, in relation to competition law and antitrust concerns surrounding market definition in Malaysia.

Tax Disputes

• BAR MALAYSIA v. KETUA PENGARAH HASIL DALAM NEGERI [2018] 4 CLJ 635

Anand Raj acted for the Malaysian Bar in legal proceedings against the Revenue to determine the extent of the Revenue’s powers to purportedly undertake tax audits on the clients’ accounts of law firms and whether legal professional privilege (or also known as attorney or solicitor-client privilege) would prevent the Revenue from so doing. Bar Malaysia sought for declarations that the exercise by the Revenue was abusive, unlawful and illegal. The High Court decided in favour of the Malaysian Bar, holding that privilege is absolute unless it is waived by the privilege holder or falls within the proviso to section 126 of the Evidence Act 1950 and would require an advocate and solicitor to reject any request or demand of the Revenue for access to, or disclosure of, any, client communications. The High Court held that the Director General of Inland Revenue (“DGIR”) cannot be allowed to use the Income Tax Act 1967 (“ITA”) as an instrument of fraud purportedly to fish for information on the clients of the law firms. This is a landmark case affecting legal professional privilege in Malaysia.

• ASPAC LUBRICANTS (M) SDN BHD (FORMERLY KNOWN AS CASTROL (M) SDN BHD) v KETUA PENGARAH HASIL DALAM NEGERI [2007] 6 MLJ 65

Anand Raj acted for the taxpayer in Castrol (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (now known as Aspac Lubricants (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd) in a successful tax appeal against the Director General of Inland Revenue before the Malaysian Court of Appeal. This was a landmark case which dealt with the broad principle of tax deductibility of promotional expenditure on product sales. Castrol succeeded in its tax appeal and the Court of Appeal clarified the law by adopting a more pragmatic test in differentiating between business expenditure on sales promotions (which is tax deductible) and expenditure on entertainment (which is not tax deductible or is only partially deductible). There are significant implications to this decision as sales promotion expenses are important annually recurring expenses for virtually all Malaysian businesses. This case is now reported at [2007] 6 MLJ 65, [2007] 5 CLJ 353, [2007] MSTC 4,271.

• WINCOR NIXDORF – SUCCESSFUL JUDICIAL REVIEW PROCEEDINGS TO CHALLENGE DECISION OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CUSTOMS

Anand Raj acted for Wincor Nixdorf (M) Sdn Bhd (“Wincor Nixdorf”) in successful judicial review proceedings before the High Court following the refusal of the Minister of Finance (“MOF”) and Director General of Customs (“DGC”) to grant the company a remission of import duties and sales tax under Section 14A of the Customs Act 1967 and Section 33 of the Sales Tax Act 1972. The High Court decided in favour of Wincor Nixdorf and quashed the decision of MOF. The Court also granted full remission of the import duties and sales tax sought by the taxpayer. The MOF and DGC appealed to the Court of Appeal. In Q1 of 2014, Anand Raj succeeded before the Court of Appeal as the Court affirmed the decision of the High Court quashing the decision of the MOF and remitted the case to the MOF for assessment on the quantum of the remission. Wincor Nixdorf then applied for leave to appeal to the Federal Court (apex court) against the decision of the Court of Appeal in remitting the case to the MOF for assessment on the quantum of the remission. Leave to appeal was granted by the Federal Court in Q4 of 2016. The case was settled on terms favourable to the taxpayer. This is a landmark case being the first Malaysian case on remission of import duties and sales tax and one of very few Commonwealth decisions on the issue of remission.

• SUCCESSFUL RESOLUTION OF TAX APPEAL INVOLVING LANDMARK WITHHOLDING TAX PRINCIPLES ON PROVISION OF SERVICES BY NON-RESIDENTS

Anand Raj acted as co-Counsel for Esso Production Malaysia Inc. (now known as ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc.) and Esso Malaysia Berhad in an appeal before the Court of Appeal. The issues dealt with landmark withholding tax principles with ramifications upon all Malaysian and non-resident taxpayers in the provision of services by non-residents. Anand Raj successfully resolved and concluded the tax appeal before the Court of Appeal favourably for the taxpayer.

Education

Awards