The competition regulator has been probing alleged cartel conduct by steel giant Bluescope for a number of years, counsel for the company told a court Friday as it sought transcripts of the watchdog’s compulsory interviews of witnesses and asked for five months to put on a defence.
Prosecutors will not lay charges against BlueScope Steel over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, but its former general manager of sales faces possible jail time after being charged with obstructing the ACCC’s investigation.
A judge has ordered engineering services firm CIMIC Group to pay the costs of a 2017 attempt to stay a competing class action against it, saying the bid was one the company “could never have successfully prosecuted”.
Prosecutors are weighing criminal charges over alleged cartel conduct the subject of a price-fixing case by the ACCC against BlueScope Steel and former general manager of sales Jason Ellis, a judge has revealed in rejecting a bid by the competition watchdog to suppress details of its case.
Engineering services firm CIMIC Group has attacked the pleadings in a shareholder class action against it, saying needlessly convoluted paragraphs containing a “numerically vast number of contingencies” should be struck out.