[Telegraph] British Airways will pay just half the £121.5m fine it initially agreed to settle the long running Office of Fair Trading investigation into price fixing.
British Airways will pay just half the £121.5m fine it initially agreed to settle the long running Office of Fair Trading investigation into price fixing
The reduced £58.5m fine comes after protracted negotiations between the airline and the OFT over allegations it colluded in price-fixing with Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson’s airline escaped punishment after blowing the whistle on the activity.
The reduced fine comes two years after a criminal case brought by theOFT against four former and current British Airways executives collapsed. It also follows a number of cases at the Competition Appeal Tribunal dramatically reduced fines handed by the OFT on separate cases.
Sources close to the OFT said the decision to reduce the fine from the figure agreed with BA in 2007 is a reflection of decisions taken by CAT and changed economic environment.
Ali Nikpay, OFT senior director of cartels and criminal enforcement, said: “The size of the fine underlines that it is important for companies to take steps to ensure that they have an effective compliance culture. The fine would have been higher still but for the co-operation provided by BA throughout the OFT’s investigation.
Without this, together with BA’s admission of the infringement, the case would have taken considerably longer to resolve.”
In 2007 British Airways was fined $300m (£187.4m) by the US Department of Justice over price-fixing of fuel surcharges with Virgin Atlantic between 2004 and 2006……
Read the full Telegraph story here….
By Jonathan Russell
19 Apr 2012
The Airport Informer 