Tesco hits out after £10m fine for fixing cheese price
TESCO has threatened legal action and called for the Office of Fair Trading to be dismantled after being hit with a £10m fine for fixing cheese prices between 2002 and 2003.
A seven-year investigation by the watchdog ended with Arla, Asda, Dairy Crest, McLelland, Safeway, Sainsbury’s, The Cheese Company, Wiseman and Tesco being fined £50m for their actions, which led to consumers spending an extra £270m on dairy goods according to the OFT. The other eight firms all received smaller fines after admitting liability. Tesco attacked the legal process and denied it had done anything wrong.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, the company’s director of corporate and legal affairs, said: “We have always said we did not collude on prices on cheese and we stand firm in our rebuttal of these ongoing allegations.
“We will continue to defend our position vigorously, through the courts if necessary.”