South Africa’s Competition Commission has recommended the maximum penalty in a price-fixing case spanning decades that involves six companies including Chevron Corp. (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Total SA. (FP)
The regulator, which has referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal for adjudication, wants the companies to be fined 10 percent of their revenues in the preceding financial year, it said in a statement today.
The investigation “revealed collusive conduct through extensive exchanges of commercially sensitive information by the respondent oil companies,” which also include Engen (ENGN) Ltd., Sasol Ltd. (SOL), BP SA and the South African Petroleum Industry Association, or Sapia, the Pretoria-based commission said.
The companies exchanged detailed sales volumes of gasoline, diesel and other fuels, allowing them to “align their strategies in the market,” according to the statement. High profit margins were maintained through the sharing of information that started in the late 1980s and largely went through through Sapia from 2005, the investigation found.
The referral is confined to the production, marketing and distribution of diesel and commercial sales of the fuel. The commission is still investigating the respondents in other product categories.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
