Commission welcomes Tribunal ruling ordering banks to answer the allegations against them in the Forex Cartel case
31 Mar 2023
The Competition Commission (Commission) welcomes the decision of the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) in which it dismissed applications/objections brought by various local and foreign banks to escape prosecution on currency manipulation allegations.
The Tribunal ruled in the Commission’s favour to add nine other banks in the complaint referral of the “Forex Cartel” case, bringing the number of banks facing prosecution of collusion to manipulate the Rand/Dollar exchange rate to a total of 28 foreign and local banks. The Tribunal also dismissed all the various applications objections brought by 15 banks, including Standard Bank, Nedbank and FirstRand Bank to stop prosecutions against them for fixing the South African Rand / US Dollar currency pair. The Tribunal further ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the case against the banks.
Yesterday’s ruling is the second major setback for the banks in about a week after the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) ruled in favour of the Commission by denying Standard Bank access to the Commission’s evidence. The CAC ruled that Standard Bank can have access to the Commission’s evidence only after it has answered to the allegations against it.
In the judgment handed down yesterday, the Tribunal dismissed a second round of exception, objection, dismissal, and strike-out applications brought by the various banks, in response to the Commission’s amended complaint referral.
As part of its reasons for decision, the Tribunal stated that: “The respondents are accused of engaging in conduct considered the most egregious in competition law. Furthermore, the alleged conduct relates to fixing and manipulating the Rand/Dollar exchange rate, which has a central and crucial role in the South African economy.”
The Tribunal ordered that all the banks must respond to the complaint referral by filing answering affidavits (in the main matter dealing with the merits of the case) within 40 business days of the Tribunal’s order. The Tribunal further ordered that if any of the banks still has an objection to the complaint referral, they should raise those objections as part of their answer(s) to the complaint referral and if the Commission wishes to reply, it must do so within 20 business days of the banks filing their answering affidavits.
“The decision by the Tribunal affirms the Commission’s view that there is collusion that the banks must answer to. The prosecution of this matter has been going on since 2017 and the banks have not answered to the allegations against them. This decision provides the banks with an opportunity to do so,” said Competition Commissioner Doris Tshepe.
See also:
- Dawn raids on the rise
- Price fixing under the Competition Act
- Competition Commission raids premises of eight major long-term insurance companies
- Parliament gives green light to Financial Sector Laws Bill
