BA: potential criminal charges
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BA: potential criminal charges
FYI:
BA staff targeted in US cartel inquiry
By Michael Peel and Kevin Done in London and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: August 22 2007 20:26 | Last updated: August 23 2007 01:47
Ten past and present British Airways executives face a possible US criminal probe in a price-fixing case that has already cost the company £270m in fines, according to US court papers.
The names of the individuals who have been denied immunity under a deal between the company and US prosecutors are expected to be revealed possibly as soon as Thursday, after the overseeing judge in the case threw out a last-ditch legal bid by eight of the 10 to prevent the Department of Justice from naming them in court.
BA had previously claimed only a “very limited number” of employees were involved in two separate price-fixing conspiracies, which have spawned multiple regulatory probes and two US class-action law suits demanding damages from the company.
Judge John Bates rejected appeals by individuals known as “John Doe (I-VIII)”, who claimed that they represented eight out of the 10 current and former BA employees the Department of Justice plans to name at a hearing where BA will formalise its guilty plea in the case. The 10 will be excluded from an immunity deal offered to BA employees under a plea agreement with US prosecutors.
Daniel Ruzumna, lawyer for the first John Doe, said that the department’s impending decision to name the 10 was an attempt to “indict [them] in the court of public opinion”, even though they had not been accused of any offences, but Judge Bates said that prosecutors are not expected to express or imply that the individuals are the subject of an investigation, committed wrongdoing or that they are co-conspirators in the criminal case.
Instead, the plea agreement will only provide a list of individuals who are excluded from the “non-prosecution” provision of the agreement.
BA was this month fined $300m (£150m) by the justice department and £121.5m by Britain’s Office of Fair Trading over separate conspiracies to fix the prices of fuel surcharges on passenger and cargo flights.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
BA staff targeted in US cartel inquiry
By Michael Peel and Kevin Done in London and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: August 22 2007 20:26 | Last updated: August 23 2007 01:47
Ten past and present British Airways executives face a possible US criminal probe in a price-fixing case that has already cost the company £270m in fines, according to US court papers.
The names of the individuals who have been denied immunity under a deal between the company and US prosecutors are expected to be revealed possibly as soon as Thursday, after the overseeing judge in the case threw out a last-ditch legal bid by eight of the 10 to prevent the Department of Justice from naming them in court.
BA had previously claimed only a “very limited number” of employees were involved in two separate price-fixing conspiracies, which have spawned multiple regulatory probes and two US class-action law suits demanding damages from the company.
Judge John Bates rejected appeals by individuals known as “John Doe (I-VIII)”, who claimed that they represented eight out of the 10 current and former BA employees the Department of Justice plans to name at a hearing where BA will formalise its guilty plea in the case. The 10 will be excluded from an immunity deal offered to BA employees under a plea agreement with US prosecutors.
Daniel Ruzumna, lawyer for the first John Doe, said that the department’s impending decision to name the 10 was an attempt to “indict [them] in the court of public opinion”, even though they had not been accused of any offences, but Judge Bates said that prosecutors are not expected to express or imply that the individuals are the subject of an investigation, committed wrongdoing or that they are co-conspirators in the criminal case.
Instead, the plea agreement will only provide a list of individuals who are excluded from the “non-prosecution” provision of the agreement.
BA was this month fined $300m (£150m) by the justice department and £121.5m by Britain’s Office of Fair Trading over separate conspiracies to fix the prices of fuel surcharges on passenger and cargo flights.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
