The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), said it has opened an investigation into potential infringements of the FCCP Act 2018 (FCCPA) on five companies within the shipping and freight forwarding industry, without disclosing their identities.
Essentially, the intelligence indicate that the five companies identified in the warrant (as well as others who were neither subject of the warrant nor targets of the search) have over a period of time, within and outside Nigeria participated in, or coordinated anti-competitive conduct that materially affect or distort the market in Nigeria.
The Commission explained that the investigation, which began on October 18th, followed the execution of a judicial search warrant and order of the Federal High Court to search and gather information/evidence in contravention of the Act.
The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Irukera, in a statement yesterday, said prior to the court order, the Commission had gathered credible and actionable intelligence sufficient to establish the inquiry.
Irukera said: “Essentially, the intelligence indicate that the five companies identified in the warrant (as well as others who were neither subject of the warrant nor targets of the search) have over a period of time, within and outside Nigeria participated in, or coordinated anti-competitive conduct that materially affect or distort the market in Nigeria, including preventing fair competition, and engendering continuing high freight rates and associated costs to, and in Nigeria.
“Targets of the execution of the search warrant were largely cooperative with minimal exceptions, which exceptions included, physically and verbally assaulting officials and authorized persons of the Commission, as well as resisting, delaying, impeding or obstructing the investigatory process in violation of law. These exceptions are currently being processed for further criminal and other judicial procedures in accordance with the FCCPA and extant criminal procedure laws.”
While encouraging aggrieved persons or those with valuable information to approach the Commission, he also urged “other companies in the industry who may wish to take advantage of leniency provisions in the FCCPA to immediately engage before they become specific targets, and the investigation extends to their activities.”
