A judge has hit Alkaloids of Australia with a nearly $2 million penalty for engaging in cartel conduct and sentenced its former export manager to a term of imprisonment for his involvement in fixing prices for a key chemical in anti-spasmodic drug Buscopan.
The High Court has agreed to hear prosecutors’ appeal of a “manifestly inadequate” $1.35 million penalty against an engineering firm for bribing foreign officials in Vietnam to secure $10 million in infrastructure contracts.
A judge has thrown out an underpayments class action against NSW not-for-profit Life Without Borders for failure to advance the case with due diligence and slapped the lead applicant with costs for his “unreasonable” acts during the course of the proceeding.
The federal prosecutor has argued that the former export manager of pharmaceutical ingredient producer Alkaloids of Australia should serve prison time after pleading guilty to cartel conduct over the supply of a key chemical in generic stomach cramp drugs.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has appealed a judgment that found its case alleging Retail Foods Group misled franchisees should be run using a sample of stores.
Pharmaceutical ingredient producer Alkaloids of Australia is facing a maximum $30 million penalty but has argued it should pay less than $1 million after pleading guilty to cartel conduct over the supply of a key chemical found in generic stomach cramp drugs.
A judge has ordered that the ACCC’s case alleging Retail Food Group misled franchisees be run on a sample basis, saying the regulator’s opposition to the idea “smacks of a lack of confidence in its own case.”
Challenging a ruling that tossed half the charges brought against direct bank Members Equity, prosecutors have told an appeals court the ASIC Act does not impose a strict deadline for bringing a criminal case of misleading or deceptive conduct.
Grain producer Viterra will be ordered to pay Cargill Australia $168.9 million after a judge found the Glencore-owned company misrepresented the performance capabilities of malt producer Joe White when it sold the company for $420 million in 2013.
The CDPP’s decision to drop all criminal cartel charges against two banks and four individuals in a “test case” over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement shows the ACCC “lacks expertise and objectivity” on the financial markets and should leave them to ASIC to regulate, according to one of the former accused.