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Three face UK court over cartel charges



By Upstream staff 

Three UK executives charged with seeking to operate a cartel for marine hose products used by the offshore oil and gas industry faced court in London today under a deal between US and UK prosecutors.

Bryan Allison and David Brammar, the managing director and sales director of UK-based Dunlop Oil & Marine, and consultant Peter Whittle, are accused of working with other companies to fix prices, rig bids and control market share in the industry, which makes pipes to transport oil from tankers to storage tanks.

The charges involve product sales worth hundreds of millions of dollars between 1999 and May last year.

The three men are being prosecuted by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the first under legislation designed to tackle anti-competitive behaviour was passed in 2003, London’s Financial Times reported.

Under a controversial plea bargain deal with the US Department of Justice, the three have admitted violating US anti-trust laws. They are expected to also plead guilty to charges brought by the OFT and face jail time in the UK.

Critics of the deal say it potentially exposes company executives to “double jeopardy” in UK and US courts, the newspaper said.

Allison, Brammar and Whittle are subject to strict bail conditions during their trial. They were arrested in swoops in Houston and San Francisco in may last year, along with five other executives from Italy’s Manuli Rubber industries and the French unit of Sweden’s Trelleborg.

Two Manuli executives were indicted in Florida in September for anti-trust activities and two executives of Trelleborge have pleaded guilty to similar charges under a plea bargain with US authorities and could receive sentences reduced to 14 months.


Wednesday, 30 January, 2008, 02:13 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 30 January, 2008, 07:54 GMT

Over the pond: three executives face court in London on cartel charges under a deal with US authorities
 

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