According to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, the government should investigate when a company gets too big, because it becomes too hard for other companies to compete. Care to repeat that Mr. Scott?

LONDON (AFX) - Tesco PLC's growing dominance of the UK grocery market should be investigated by competition watchdogs, according to Lee Scott, chief executive of US retail giant Wal-Mart, which owns UK supermarket group Asda.

'I am sure there is a point where the government is compelled to intervene, particularly in the UK, where you have the planning laws that make it more difficult to compete,' Scott told the Sunday Times. 'At some point the government has got to look at it.'

Scott's comments came after market researchers TNS said last week that Tesco's share of the UK market rose to a record 30.5 pct over the last three months. That put Tesco at the top of the UK supermarket league, with Asda in second place with 16.7 pct.

Tesco said there was no justification for a competition probe.

'Previous Competition Commission inquiries have found that the market - and Tesco - operates in the consumer interest. It is a competitive market. The consumer is the winner,' Tesco corporate and legal affairs director Lucy Neville-Rolfe told the Sunday Times.