Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) revoked licences of Petaling Street traders because they violated business regulations by renting the licences out to foreigners.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the sale of licence to foreign traders should not have happened because priority for business opportunities should be given to the local people.

“This is similar to what we did in Jalan Alor, where we told the community that they can hire foreigners as employees and not make them bosses (the owners),” he told reporters after a Federal Territory Male Circumcision Programme here, on Sunday.

Tengku Adnan said some business owners sell or rent their premises or licence to foreigners at a price many times over for a quick profit.

“This is not fair so when we get information that traders are renting out their premises to foreigners we will revoke their licences immediately,” he said.

He said this also applied to wholesale markets where similar actions would be taken against traders who rented out or sold their licences to foreigners.