Chile: Tissue cartel executives miss court date

Former SCA Chile (formerly Pisa) executives Felipe Baraona and Eduardo Hola missed a call to the witness stand issued by the Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC), Chile’s competition regulator, where they were expected to testify regarding the price-fixing case in the tissue paper market which affects the Swedish company, along with CMPC Tissue, part of the CMPC company owned by Chile’s Grupo Matte.

Felipe Baraona is the former General Manager of SCA Chile, while Hola was the company’s Sales manager. Both were presented as witnesses by the National Economic Prosecutors (FNE) and by the Swedish SCA. Jan Schiavone, SCA’s former manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, had been scheduled to appear as a witness later that day.

To this moment, none of the executives in charge during the period where the price-fixing scheme was active, involving the leading companies in South America and which lead to a rise in consumer prices, has come forth. The executives will be called to the stand once again, and only after a third failure to appear could they be forced to appear under threat of arrest. The process may now likely be delayed by at least a month, while already Chilean authorities have estimated the trial and deliberations will take between 12 and 14 months.

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