Aussie regulator goes all Martin Scorsese
With VIDEO. Plus: options for NZ employees who want to rat on their company for cartel behaviour.
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EARNINGS
In many a fable, Hollywood has taught us that corporate corruption is bad. Think Tom Cruise in The Firm, Giovanni Ribisi in Boiler Room or the entire cast of Margin Call.
And yet, rules still get broken.
What's needed is more focussed drama, and the ACCC (Australia's equivalent to our Commerce Commission) has delivered.
With support form Qantas (recently in legal bother over its involvement in a freight cartel), the watchdog has created a high production-value 16-minute short film called The Marker, in which a new employee discovers his employer is part of a pricing cartel.
Will Martin Tully let his firm consipre with competitors on a tender, or join the ACCC's immunity programme for those who rat on their employer? And will his relationship survive the drama? Watch the clip below to find out.
Watch a higher higher resolution version of The Marker on YouTube here.
“The ACCC has sent The Marker to CEOs at 300 of Australia’s largest companies and we are advising them to show it to employees at all levels of their business,” says Chairman Rod Sims.
Sadly, the Commerce Commission told, NBR "We currently have no plans to produce a similar short film."
Along with its move, the ACCC is pushing a website with handy Report a Cartel and Apply for Immunity links.
What's the situation for wannabe informers on this side of the Tasman?
"In the case of cartels, a cartel member can apply to the Commission for immunity or cooperation under the Commission’s Cartel Leniency Policy," a Commerce Commission spokeswoman told NBR.
"This means that the Commission will agree to take reduced action, or take no action at all, in exchange for that person providing information and cooperating with the investigation."
Click here if you've got the urge to purge.
"Most of our cartel investigations start with an application for leniency," the spokeswoman added.
It doesn't have to be an individual who spill, either.
Qantas dobbed in other companies involved in a freight cartel in exchange for a softer penalty, for example.
Chris Keall
Fri, 31 Aug 2012
Fri, 31 Aug 2012
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Aussie regulator goes all Martin Scorsese
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