Competition Tribunal versus Altech CEO
The Competition Tribunal has written to Altech CEO Craig Venter demanding that he retract a statement made to a newspaper which it described as an "unwarranted and scurrilous inference of bias on the part of the Tribunal".
The Tribunal’s chairperson, David Lewis, said on Monday that Venter – in a story headlined, "?tech’s Venter in war mode", in Business Times on January 25 2009 ? had commented on the Competition Tribunal’s approval of the merger transaction between MTN and Verizon.
He is quoted in the story as saying, "It is also unfortunate that one of the panel members that adjudicate on the tribunal panel is an ex-MTN executive".
Responding to the comments, Lewis said: "The panellist in question, Competition Tribunal member Yasmin Carrim had, five years previously, been in the employ of MTN. This was declared in writing to all parties involved in the transaction who were asked to record any objection which they might have.
Altech’s attorneys advised, in writing, that their client had no objection to Ms. Carrim’s presence on the panel. This was confirmed on the record by Altech’s legal representatives at the hearing of Altech’s application to intervene.
"We note that Section 73 (2) (e) of the Competition Act provides that, ‘A person commits an offence who defames the Competition Tribunal or the Competition Appeal Court, or a member of either of them, in their respective official capacities’."
Lewis added: "We wrote to Mr. Venter and demanded that he retract this unwarranted and scurrilous inference of bias on the part of the Tribunal."
In response, Venter’s attorneys said that the quotation ascribed to their client formed part of a broader interview between their client and the Sunday Times and that it was certainly not his intention to "defame or make any ‘unwarranted’ or ‘scurrilous’ statements regarding Ms Cassim or the Tribunal".
"My client has instructed me that he simply advised the journalist in question of a factual position and no further inference of bias ought to be drawn by yourselves or Ms Carrim or any reasonable reader.
"To the extent that any inference may be read into the statement, my client (without prejudice) retracts the use of the word ‘unfortunate’ in so far as this has been attributed to him and apologises if any adverse inference may have been read into the use of this word," Venter’s attorney wrote to the Tribunal.
Competition Tribunal versus Altech CEO discussion
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