Wednesday, 18 June 2008
MELBOURNE: Qantas Airways has reached a confidential multimillion dollar settlement agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission relating to its alleged role in illegally fixing fuel surcharges as part of a global cartel, reports The Australian Financial Review. According to the paper, the European commission is also in the final stages of its price-fixing investigations and is ready to take action against 26 airlines.
Qantas has signalled to the European regulators that it will admit liability and is expected to pay a hefty fine, the paper said. BusinessSpectator.com.au reports that late last month, US prosecutors revealed the involvement of Qantas employees in illegally fixing air-freight rates saying they had “sufficient evidence” to prove “at least” six Qantas employees had been part of the conspiracy.
Bruce McCaffrey, who was in charge of the Australian airline’s North American freight operations was also sentenced to eight months in jail as part of a cartel investigation by the US Justice Department.
Qantas pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix prices between January 2000 and February 2006, and agreed to pay $US61 million in fines.
On Tuesday, the airline announced that it was making cuts to QantasLink’s regional operations in New South Wales and Victoria, blaming “unprecedented” increases in higher oil prices.
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