S.Africa raids airlines’ offices
South Africa’s
antitrust watchdog said it raided the offices of South African Airways
SAA)and another airline, as part of an ongoing probe into price fixing
related to the soccer World Cup.
The competition
commission said in a statement on Tuesday that it had searched the
offices of South African Airways, budget airline Mango and an industry
group last week, seizing documents and electronic data.
The investigation
comes as demand for flights and accommodation during the FIFA 2010
World Cup has so far failed to meet expectations.
The probe – which
is also targeting airlines British Airways, Comair (COMJ.J) and 1Time
(1TMJ.J) – was first announced in January. At that time, the commission
said SAA had promised to cooperate with the investigation, provided it
was excluded from prosecution.
The searches last week were prompted by suspicion that SAA and Mango
may have withheld information from the investigation, the commission
said.
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