Banks' alleged forex manipulation case now before Concourt

THE Competition Commission has approached the Constitutional Court this week in yet another chapter of the ongoing saga following allegations that the banks conspired with each other to manipulate the foreign exchange rate in respect of the US Dollar and the Rand.

- ZELDA VENTER

The Commission has approached the court for leave to appeal the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) judgment handed down in January last year in which it upheld the appeal by the majority of the respondent banks accused of price-fixing.

The Constitutional Court is due to hear legal arguments over four days, starting today.

In June 2020, the Commission had referred the case regarding the alleged rand fixing against 28 local and foreign banks to the Competition Tribunal.

The banks were ordered by the Tribunal in March 2023 to file their answering affidavits in response to the Commission’s complaint referral, but objected to the Tribunal order and appealed it to the CAC.

The CAC, in its judgment last year, released 17 banks from the complaint referral before they answered the allegations against them and restricted the Commissions case to only four respondent banks.