The US Department of Justice found Qantas guilty in “a conspiracy to eliminate competition by fixing the rates for shipments of cargo” from at least January 2000 to February 2006. Qantas was the largest cargo carrier between the U.S. and Australia during that time and earned more than $600 million from cargo in the period, DOJ said.
Qantas said today it had entered a Plea Agreement with the US Government to settle its liability in the United States resulting from illegal price fixing conduct within its Freight Division.
The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said Qantas had agreed to pay a fine of US$61 million. Mr Dixon said the illegal conduct involved fuel surcharges in the international air cargo market between 2000 and 2006. “Similar investigations to those being carried out by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are being undertaken by antitrust regulators in other countries, including Australia.
“Four past and two current employees of Qantas Freight have been excluded from the Plea Agreement and the DOJ has reserved the right to investigate these cases further. This does not mean the individuals have been involved in any illegal conduct nor that the DOJ would prosecute them.
“Our 2006/07 financial statements included a US$40 million provision for the US liability. We do not believe this or any further financial penalties will materially affect future operating results.” – said Mr Dixon.
We will monitor the development of this story.
Wow. I wonder if they get to write that off as a loss?
well, let’s see:
“Qantas was the largest cargo carrier between the U.S. and Australia during that time and earned more than $600 million from cargo in the period, DOJ said.”
and
“The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said Qantas had agreed to pay a fine of US$61 million.”
For me it seems like a bargain
(maybe the first amount was in Australian dollars)