ACCC

The ACCC’s practice of successively refining witness statements without saving draft versions was “quite unfair”, says a judge overseeing the competition regulator’s criminal cartel case over a botched ANZ share placement.

A judge has declined to quash the indictment in a high-profile criminal case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement but sent prosecutors back to the drawing board to remedy its defects, calling the state of affairs “a complete shemozzle”.

JPMorgan’s general counsel for Australia and New Zealand was allowed to sit in on witness interviews during an ACCC cartel investigation into ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement despite allegedly being involved in the cartel conduct, a judge has heard.

A judge has rejected part of IVF provider Virtus Health’s bid for redactions in a recent decision from the court temporarily blocking the company from purchasing rival Adora Fertility, saying some of the confidentiality claims were “staggering” and “border on ridiculous.”

BlueScope general manager Jason Ellis made executives of a steel distributor “extremely uncomfortable” in a meeting where he presented the steel giant’s price list, a court hearing the ACCC’s price-fixing case was told Monday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned public agencies not to encourage businesses to coordinate bids for tenders, saying an investigation showed government departments had “contemplated cooperation” by competitors.

In a major blow to the competition regulator’s high-profile price-fixing case over ANZ’s $2.5 billion capital raising, prosecutors have dropped all charges against the bank and its group treasurer, Rick Moscati.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is calling for the power to mandate ‘choice screens’ in mobile devices to provide Australian consumers with a wider variety of online search engine options, as part of the regulator’s ongoing efforts to mitigate Google’s search dominance.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has flagged preliminary competition concerns about a proposed merger of two of the largest suppliers of mobile container handling equipment, saying the tie-up could leave customers without a proven alternative supplier at shipping terminals.

BlueScope Steel general manager Jason Ellis was not an honest witness and did not express genuine regret when he apologised for obstructing an ACCC investigation, a court hearing the regulator’s price-fixing case was told Tuesday.