Fri,July01,2011
German authorities said that they are investigating 10 steel and rail companies, including ThyssenKrupp subsidiary GfT Gleistechnik GmBH, for operating a cartel between 2001 and 2008.
Prosecutors said that German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn may have been defrauded of hundreds of millions of euros as a result of the suspected price-fixing scheme.
Prosecutors in Bochum in Germany's industrial west said “If guilty, companies could face fines and individuals could be jailed.”
Authorities began investigating the alleged cartel in May.
Nearly all of GfT Gleistechnik leadership has been replaced as a result of the investigation.
A ThyssenKrupp spokesman said that "Such (anti-competitive) agreements are not tolerated. We are working closely with the authorities."
GfT Gleistechnik is a small subsidiary of the German steel giant. It employs 280 people and has annual revenue of about EUR 300 million.
Deutsche Bahn is thought to have bought up to 300,000 tonnes of steel a year at fixed prices, German prosecutors said, confirming a figure first reported by Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
In 2006, the rail operator may have overpaid by as much as 100 million euros for steel and rail equipment, the paper said.
Deutsche Bahn legal executive Gerd Becht in a statement said that "As soon as we know more about the cartel, we will investigate possible claims."
Investigators said that regional and local rail companies may also have been harmed.(sourced from Reuters)
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