Firm fined for impeding probe

Wood treatment company Osmose and its former general manager have been convicted and fined for obstructing a Commerce Commission investigation into a price-fixing racket operating in the industry several years ago.

Osmose New Zealand pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court yesterday to failing to provide the commission with a non-public price list it had obtained from cartel member Koppers Arch and was fined $13,000.

Australian-based former general manager Mark Greenacre admitted lying to investigators and denying he had met rivals to share price information. He was fined $7000.

The commission said the convictions were the latest development in its proceedings against the cartel that operated in New Zealand's $35 million a year wood preservative chemicals industry between 1998 to 2002.

As well as the criminal charges, Osmose and Greenacre are defendants in the commission's civil case against the cartel.

The commission has brought civil proceedings against 15 defendants and some of those have already admitted breaching the Commerce Act.

They include the Koppers Arch group of companies, which were fined $3.6 million in April. Koppers Arch and its former general manager, Roy Parish, were also convicted on criminal charges of obstructing the investigation.

Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said the criminal prosecutions were important.

"Cartels are by definition secretive and dishonest, which makes uncovering them extremely difficult," said Rebstock.

"These fines and criminal convictions show how seriously the court views any attempt to hinder a commission investigation."