South Africa's Forex Conspiracy Case: A Matter of Sovereignty and Evolving Cartels

The Competition Commission accuses several global and local institutions of colluding between 2007 and 2013 to manipulate the rand-dollar exchange rate through information-sharing in secret chatrooms. The Competition Appeal Court had earlier dismissed charges against 23 banks, leaving only four institutions to answer the commission’s case. Investec is the only South African bank not to appeal, while Standard Bank, FirstRand, and Nedbank maintain their innocence. Ngcukaitobi warned that banks had tried to introduce new facts, undermining the Competition Tribunal’s ability to prosecute cartel cases. He drew on European precedent, urging the Constitutional Court to adopt the doctrine of a “single overarching conspiracy”, which allows competition authorities to prosecute sprawling collusion cases involving multiple players, strategies, and jurisdictions.

South Africa argues it has a unique responsibility because the alleged manipulation targeted the Rand, the nation's currency.

It allows competition authorities to prosecute sprawling collusion cases even if not every participant engaged in every form of conduct, as long as they pursued an identical anti-competitive object.

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