Kildare car dealer to be sentenced over price-fixing
A motor company and its director will be sentenced next month by the Central Criminal Court for fixing car prices as a member of a cartel, in breach of the Competition Acts.
Patrick Duffy (aged 52) is a co-director of Duffy Motors Limited which trades as PG Duffy and Sons at Naas Road, Newbridge, County Kildare. Mr Duffy and the company pleaded guilty to entering into and implementing agreements with other Leinster car dealers to fix prices of Citroen vehicles.
Mr Duffy pleaded guilty to two counts of, as a director of a company, authorising it to enter into and to implement an agreement with other undertakings to prevent, restrict and distort competition by directly or indirectly fixing prices of Citroen cars, within the province of Leinster on dates between June 24, 1997 and June 18, 2002, contrary to section four of the 1991 Act and section two of the 1996 Act.
He also pleaded guilty to two similar charges on behalf of the company.
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie asked lawyers to prepare written submissions on the sentencing principles applicable to the case and listed it for sentence on February 23, 2009.
The court heard that Mr Duffy was a member of the Citroen Dealers’ Association (CDA) which had its first meeting in April 1995 and operated in the Leinster region until 2004.
Members of the CDA agreed to implement a scheme in which prices were set by the organisation in relation to maximum discounts from the recommended retail price, delivery charges, accessory prices, trade in values and export prices.
The court heard that Duffy Motors Ltd had a turnover of nearly €9.4m in 2006 and nearly €9.9m in 2007 but was experiencing difficulty in the current economic climate. Sales had decreased by 14 per cent in 2008. It employs 22 full time staff.
Mr Duffy is co director of Duffy Motors with his brother. Their father established the company in 1952 and the defendant took over in 1981.
Mr Justice McKechnie heard that two other members of the CDA had been prosecuted in the Circuit Criminal Courts in Dundalk and Trim for entering into agreements to fix prices. They received three-month suspended jail terms and fines of €12,000 and €20,000.
