The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) on Friday (11 February) informed Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and four senior banking executives that all charges against them, in relation to criminal cartel allegations arising from an ANZ institutional share placement in August 2015, had been dropped.
In a statement issued by the ACCC, the competition watchdog said it respects the independent decision of the CDPP and that it intends to “consider what lessons can be learnt from this matter”.
The charges involved alleged cartel arrangements relating to trading in ANZ shares held by Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.
This conduct was investigated by the ACCC and, in mid-2017, was referred to the CDPP, who decided to bring criminal cartel charges.
The competition watchdog had investigated the matter for more than two years prior to referring it to CDPP.
ANZ, Citi, and Deutsche Bank all denied the charges and said they would “vigorously defend” themselves and their employees.
“We considered that the alleged conduct stood to damage competition and the Australian economy. That is why the ACCC investigated this conduct and referred the evidence to the CDPP,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said on Friday.
“The office of the CDPP assessed the evidence very carefully and, as required by law, made an independent decision to prosecute based at all times on an application of the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth,” Mr Sims continued.
He acknowledged the challenges involved in bringing criminal cartel prosecutions, particularly due to the complexity of the cartel laws, but assured that the ACCC would “continue our efforts to deter, detect and dismantle cartels”.
“That is our role and we will continue to fulfil it, even though not all briefs of evidence given to the CDPP will result in the laying of charges or convictions,” he said.
The CDPP’s latest decision follows its dismissal of charges against ANZ and its former group treasurer Rick Moscati in October.
“We maintained all along ANZ acted in accordance with the law in relation to the placement,” ANZ chief risk officer Kevin Corbally said at the time.
“We defended the bank and Rick on that basis and we are pleased the matter is now behind us.”
Earlier, in August, all charges against ex-Citi country head Stephen Roberts, who was accused of two charges of violating laws to prevent cartel activity, were also dropped.
