Sasol on Friday accepted accountability for the anti-competitive behaviour that led to an approximately R3-billion fine for paraffin-wax price-fixing in Europe, but it intended to appeal.
”I need to make it very clear that we don’t distance ourself from accountability on this,” said Sasol chief executive officer Pat Davies.
However, the company would like to get details on how the European Commission (EC) concluded the matter to establish whether it was indeed a leader in the nine-company cartel as alleged, and to see whether the size of the fine was appropriate.
Davies said that as soon as the company was told of an investigation into cartels in April 2005, it immediately stopped it.
He said the company has more than 30 000 employees and those implicated amounted to just a few individuals. They had clearly breached company policy and values when they did this, he said.
The company had cooperated with the commission and was surprised by the magnitude of the fine.
In terms of EC rules, it will pay the fine over the next three months, probably through a combination of cash and borrowing.
”As we see things now it is our intention to appeal,” he said.
The company had intensified its compliance monitoring and said that ”this is something that has happened in the past”. — Sapa