Regina v Peter whittle, Bryan Allison and David Brammar, 2008 EWCA Crim 2560
Citation: Regina v Peter whittle, Bryan Allison and David Brammar, 2008 EWCA Crim 2560
Rule of thumb: Is price-fixing by association leaders a crime & how long do you expect to spend in jail for it? Yes, price-fixing is a crime if there is sufficient evidence to prove it happened & was pre-meditated, and the amount of time spent in jail is directly proportional to the amount of money that has been connived through it.
Judgment:
This case confirmed that price fixing cartels can also be considered criminal offences if there is clear enough evidence of people in markets concerting, ‘The arrangement can relate to price-fixing of a product or service, limiting or preventing the supply of a product or service, limiting or preventing the production of a product, dividing between two undertakings the supply of a product or service to a customer or customers, dividing between two undertakings customers for the supply of a product or service, or it may constitute bid-rigging. An offence of this nature is termed a “cartel offence” and the activities set out in the staute are, we understand, frequently called “hardcore activities”.... That would have been difficult in any event because the Court would have had little, if any, knowledge of where to place this case in the scale of seriousness: no sufficient body of cases exists as yet to be able to make that assessment... It will be appreciated from the particulars to which we have referred that the industry that lies behind the cartel in this case is the industry that manufactures and supplies marine hose and ancillary equipment,,, is used in connection with the movement of oil to and from oil tankers. It is a commodity that is used worldwide... It is said that the worldwide market in marine hose and ancillary equipment is worth in the region of £60 million. In order to put the criminal activities of the 3 applicants into its proper context it should be noted that the total value of the UK contracts affected during the period from June 2003 to May 2007 was in the order of £17.5 million. It should be further noted that over that period market price under fair and open competition – in other words, an additional profit of up to £2.5 million was made for the company over that period... 2 and half years for Whittie, 2 years for Allison and 20 months for Brammar... By way of general guidance, we have noted the terms of the Hammond/Penrose report which suggested the following factors as being relevant to any sentence passed: the gravity and nature of the offence; the duration of the offence; the degree of culpability of the defendant in implementing the cartle agreement; the degree of culpability of the defendant in enforcing the cartel agreement; whether the defendant’s conduct was contrary to guidelines laid down in a company compliance manual; mitigating factors eg cooperation, duress to enter, a first offence; and personal circumstances – whilst we would not suggest these factors are exhaustive, they are plainly relevant...’ (paragraphs 1-34)
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.