Chile: Foreign experts called to back up supermarket collusion claim

Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) has sent two reports to the Tribunal of Free Competition (TDLC) from foreign experts confirming that there was an agreement between Walmart, Cencosud and SMU (the holding to which Unimarc belongs) to fix the prices on the sale of fresh chicken.

The FNE seeks to prove its accusations levelled against these supermarket chains. Specifically, they present the views of two academics: Okeoghene Odudu, of the University of Cambridge; and Spencer Weber, from Chicago University’s Loyola School of Law, who analyzed the background data the entity gave them in 2015.

These texts had been kept confidential, but were released within days of the final arguments before the court next Thursday. The case began to be investigated by the FNE in 2011 and is now asking the TDLC to set a maximum fine of 30,000 Annual Tax Units (UTA): about US$25 million dollars to each chain.

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