Ford cartel secretary fined €30,000

A CLASSIC cartel designed to corrupt the market and squeeze consumers of cars was operated by the Irish Ford Dealers’ Association, a Circuit Criminal Court judge said yesterday.

He fined the group’s secretary €30,000 and imposed a one-year suspended jail sentence on him.

Mr Justice Liam MacKechnie said in the course of sentencing Denis Manning, aged 68, of 11 Allendale Avenue, Melbourn Estate, Bishopstown, Cork, that the cartel’s activities represented a shocking display which he described in various aspects as obnoxious, pernicious and a crime against consumers.