Tribunal dismisses case against travel agency
ONE of the travel agencies at the centre of a Competition Commission investigation into domestic air tickets and accommodation for MPs says they have been vindicated following the Competition Tribunal’s dismissal of the case against them.
The tribunal last week dismissed the price fixing and collusive tendering case against Tourvest Holdings and Trigon Travel.
Gavin Stevens, of Tag Travel, under which Trigon Travel operates, said the company’s innocence had been vindicated.
“We were happy to assist the tribunal in arriving at its conclusion and to be able to prove that there was no collusion between ourselves and Tourvest.
“As we were recommended as the preferred bidder, this has cost the company a huge opportunity to grow its client base in the Western Cape, and allow it to be a meaningful player in the public space.
“It also cost the company in excess of R1.5 million in legal fees,” Stevens said, adding that the company supported the role of the
Competition Commission.
The commission, which investigates contraventions of the Competition Act before referring cases to the tribunal for prosecution, accused the two companies of colluding with each other when bidding for the tender in 2015.
In terms of the tender, the winning bidder would have to process about 28 000 transactions for an annual spend of R100 million during the contracting period.
The companies refuted the Commission’s allegations, arguing that they each compiled their respective bids independently of one another, and that the commission failed to put up sufficient facts and evidence to sustain an allegation of price fixing or collusive tendering.
In dismissing the case, the tribunal said, among other things: “On the objective facts before us, the commission has not discharged the onus to enable us to draw an inference of an agreement or concerted practice by the respondents...
The complaint referral against the respondents must therefore be dismissed.”
Tourvest did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.