Für das Office of Fair Trading (OFT), die britische Kartellbehörde, war gestern kein guter Tag. Das OFT musste seine erste Kartellanklage auf strafrechtlicher Grundlage zurückziehen (British Airways).
Die strafrechtliche Sanktionierung von Kartellverstößen (“cartel offense”) wurde in Großbritannien zwar bereits im Jahr 2002 eingeführt (UK Enterprise Act 2002). Auf Grundlage dieses Straftatbestands wurde bisher aber nur in einem Verfahrenskomplex verurteilt (im Jahr 2008, zwischen zweieinhalb und drei Jahren Haft). Damals hatten sich die Angeklagten schuldig bekannt. Demgegenüber hat die Verteidigung in British Airways auf Freispruch der vier Angeklagten plädiert. Daher hätte erstmals eine Jury über Voraussetzungen und Umfang einer strafrechtlichen Haftung entscheiden müssen.
Die Beweisaufnahme sollte gestern beginnen; dazu kam es nicht. Die Angeklagten wurden freigesprochen, wegen einer Panne auf Seiten der OFT.
Das Verfahren bezog sich auf (aus Sicht der OFT) Preisabsprachen zwischen British Airways und Virgin Airways über ihren Kerosinaufschlag bei Langstreckenflügen von und nach Großbritannien. Es war durch einen Kronzeugenantrag von Virgin Airways ins Rollen gekommen. Das Verwaltungsverfahren bleibt von dem Kollaps des strafrechtlichen Verfahrens unberührt.
Aus der Pressemitteilung der OFT:
The OFT has decided to withdraw its criminal proceedings against four current and former British Airways executives for price-fixing.
The decision follows the discovery last week of a substantial volume of electronic material, which neither the OFT nor the defence had previously been able to review. Given that the trial had already begun and the volume of material involved, the OFT accepts that to continue with the trial in light of this unforeseen development would be potentially unfair to the defendants.
The previously undisclosed electronic material includes e-mails sent or received by Paul Moore, one of the former employees of Virgin Atlantic Airways, whose evidence the jury was due to start hearing today. An initial review of the material indicated that almost all of it was of no relevance to any of the issues in the case and that it did not fundamentally undermine the prosecution’s case. However, in light of rulings made by the trial judge last Friday, the OFT has concluded that it would not be realistic to request an adjournment of the trial, which the late disclosure of the additional electronic material would otherwise have necessitated. Following the OFT’s decision, the four defendants were acquitted by the jury at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court this morning.
Counsel for one of the defendants suggested in court today that these proceedings should never have been brought. It was made clear in court that the OFT disagrees with this …
The events leading to today’s decision date back to the early stages of the OFT’s investigation which started in 2006 and was the OFT’s first major criminal investigation to be launched on the basis of an application for immunity. In the early stages of the investigation electronic material was provided to the OFT by Virgin Atlantic pursuant to its obligation as a leniency applicant to provide the OFT with continuous and complete cooperation. The omission from this material of a significant number of emails only came to light after the start of the trial. Had the omission been uncovered earlier, the OFT believes there is every prospect that the trial would have been able to proceed.
The OFT acknowledges responsibility for its part in this oversight, which occurred at a time when the UK criminal cartel regime was still relatively new and the OFT’s approach to the handling of leniency applications in the context of parallel criminal and civil investigations was still evolving. Since then the OFT has also prepared detailed internal guidance on criminal procedures and developed its forensic IT capability and experience. The OFT has also made a number of appointments to strengthen its criminal investigation and prosecution functions and – independently of this case – is in the process of further strengthening its capabilities in this area through two senior investigator and criminal lawyer appointments.
Ich fand besonders den Teil der GCR Meldung interesant:
The court heard that the OFT had failed to disclose key evidence to the defence. Among a large volume of emails that were only discovered last week, one implied that Virgin INCREASED its fuel surcharges WITHOUT consulting BA, UNDERMINING the allegations of collusion.
Die OFT site ist leider zur Zeit nicht erreichbar um mehr Informationen zu bekommen
GCR, hm. Ich kann Ihnen eine Kopie der Pressemitteilung der OFT schicken, wenn Sie möchten.