Sasol’s fine for anti-competitive conduct in the fertiliser industry has been increased, the Competition Commission said on Tuesday.
This followed Sasol’s additional admissions about its conduct on the eve of a hearing taking place at the Competition Tribunal, the commission said in a statement .
”This conduct has been revealed by Sasol extremely late in the day,” the commission said, adding that as a result, Sasol had agreed to pay a higher penalty, from 6% to 8% of the turnover of the Sasol Nitro Division.
The amount Sasol will now pay had consequently increased from R188-million to just more than R250-million, the commission said.
”The Competition Commission hopes to encourage early and substantive cooperation,” said Commissioner Shan Ramburuth.
”While it is commendable that Sasol’s ongoing internal review has uncovered conduct substantiating our findings, this conduct should have been uncovered when the commission initiated its investigation five years ago, and certainly prior to the settlement agreement signed earlier this month.”
In a separate statement, Sasol said it was ”only now” after intensive repeat interviews with employees and former employees that it had uncovered new information relevant to contraventions in the fertiliser business.
”Sasol tendered the information to the commission as soon as it was verified, in line with its commitment to cooperate with the commission,” Sasol’s statement said.
On Wednesday, Sasol will make a submission to the Competition Tribunal related to cartel conduct in two fertiliser cases.
The tribunal will hear an application to confirm the negotiated settlement agreement between the Competition Commission and Sasol.
According to the company, the settlement agreement was amended on Monday to reflect the changes and submitted to the Competition Tribunal for confirmation. — Sapa