Member Article

The OFT has announced that, for a trial period of 18 months, it will offer cash rewards to individuals that blow the whistle on cartels.

Pay outs of up to £100,000 could be made at the OFT’s discretion  – but only where the information provided helps the regulator to identify and take action against illegal cartels.

The OFT has indicated that an individual who had had anything more than a very minor role in a cartel would be unlikely to qualify for a reward – a fact which, although understandable for policy reasons, may limit the effectiveness of the scheme.

The OFT expressed its hope that the scheme would help to root out more illegal cartels. Simon Williams, OFT Senior Director of Cartels and Criminal Enforcement said: “Cartels are very damaging both to businesses and consumers and they are usually conducted in secret making them hard to detect.

We believe that it is in the public interest to offer financial incentives in the hope that it will encourage more people who have good information about the existence of hard core cartel activity to come forward.”