An attempt to prosecute oil companies for colluding — because they abide by South African laws whereby the government sets the price of fuel every month — has collapsed."There is no admission of guilt, the respondents maintain that the conduct was not unlawful and the commission has elected not to pursue the matter further," the Competition Tribunal said in a statement on Friday.This ends a case forwarded by the Competition Commission in October 2013 accusing Chevron, Engen, Shell, Total, BP, Sasol and the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) of "sharing information allowing them to track one another’s sales and allocate markets in the supply of diesel".Under South African law, a government committee, the Central Energy Fund (CEF), sets the retail price of petrol and the wholesale price of diesel every month. Free market competition among oil companies in SA is forbidden.This is the system that defeated Pick n Pay’s former chairman Raymond Ackerman. He had vowed he w...
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