CompComm admonishes Allens Meshco respondents for ‘abuse of process’

The Competition Commission has castigated the respondents of a case involving alleged price-fixing in the wire and wire products manufacturing industry, accusing the companies of “abuse of process” by attempting to stall a Competition Tribunal hearing into the alleged cartel activity. The commission, which referred a case against the respondents to the tribunal for prosecution in January 2007, alleged that the respondents, who were all competitors, had engaged in a concerted practice to directly or indirectly fix the prices of light galvanised wire.