FRANKFURT: European Union can impose 4.0 billion euros ($4.5 billion) fine on truck makers due to one of Europe’s biggest-ever price-fixing scandals.
According to business daily Handelsblatt, MAN and Scania, both owned by German auto giant Volkswagen, as well as Daimler, DAF of the Netherlands, Iveco of Italy and Sweden’s Volvo are accused of forming an illegal cartel between 1999 and 2011.
According to Handelsblatt, which quoted industry sources, MAN will escape prosecution because it reported the price-fixing cartel to Brussels four years ago.
In January 2011, the EU Commission had said it had “reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and/or the abuse of a dominant market position”. The truck makers can be fined up to 10 percent of their annual turnover.
