£100k reward offered for information on alleged truck manufacturer cartel
February 1st 2011 The Office for Fair Trading (OFT) is offering up to £100,000 as a reward for information which assists its investigation into suspected cartel activity involving manufacturers of commercial vehicles.
The OFT also operates a leniency policy so informants who are involved in criminal activity themselves may be able to gain full or partial immunity from criminal prosecution.
The OFT is investigating suspected cartel activity among commercial vehicle manufacturers, involving possible price-fixing, marketsharing and/ or other forms of anti-competitive collusion, under the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Competition Act 1998.
It launched parallel civil and criminal investigations in September 2010 following the receipt of information that gave it reasonable grounds to suspect the law had been infringed. The OFT said: “In particular, we would be interested to hear from any person who may have information relating to suspected contacts between individuals from competing commercial vehicle manufacturers operating in the UK.”
A separate investigation is being carried out by Europe's competition watchdog into suspected cartel activity by commercial vehicle manufacturers.
In connection with these investigations, the premises of a number commercial vehicle manufacturers have been visited.
The investigations do not mean the companies involved are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour. In both investigations, manufacturers are cooperating fully with the authorities.
If found guilty, companies could face fines of up to 10 per cent of turnover. More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
