The Competition Tribunal accepted a lawsuit by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office against Servicios Pullman Bus Costa Central (Pullman), Alejandro Cabello Reyes (RVC) and Atevil Mecánica Diesel (Atevil). The lawsuit accused these parties of coordinately adopting and implementing a series of acts and agreements, with the object of: (a) fix bus ticket prices to the public; and (b) determine the allocation of frequencies for public transportation services in the Santiago-Curacaví-Santiago route (“Santiago-Curacaví” route). They were also accused of having celebrated and implemented anticompetitive agreements to fix bus ticket prices to the public in the Santiago-Lo Vásquez route, for the religious festivity of the Immaculate Conception, in December 2010. The Competition Tribunal also partially accepted the lawsuit by Mr. Alex Harry Castillo Oivera and Mr. Óscar Segundo Castillo Ossandón against the aforementioned companies, as well as against Mr. Pedro Farías Soto and Mr. Paul Von Breitenbach.
Regarding the accusations in the Santiago-Curacaví route, the Tribunal considered the following facts to be proven: (i) when Atevil entered the market, a price war started. This price war ended via an agreement, led by Pullman, in which the conditions under which Atevil should operate
–regarding maximum number of rounds and ticket prices– were established; (ii) after that, Pullman constantly monitored compliance of the agreement and reacted to deviations –such as Atevil’s deviation in 2009– in order to reestablish it, which happened after a few days; and, (iii) in 2010, the three defendant companies coordinately increased their agreed ticket prices. The decision also established that the following persons participated directly in the illicit agreement: (i) Pullman, as the main instigator, articulator and controller of the agreement, represented both by its agent Mr. Von Breitenbach and by its controller, Mr. Farías Soto; (ii) RVC, regarding whom mitigating circumstances concur; and (iii) Atevil, according to its own confession. Regarding the second accusation in the lawsuit, the Tribunal stated that there is direct and explicit proof of the agreement.
The Tribunal decided to apply the following fines: (i) Servicios Pullman Bus Costa Central S.A., 1,500 Annual Tax Units; (ii) Alejandro Cabello Reyes, 50 Annual Tax Units; (iii) Paul Justin Fritz Gerhard Von Breitenbach Eyfriedt, 80 Annual Tax Units; (iv) Pedro Farías Soto, 100 Annual Tax Units. The Tribunal granted leniency to Atevil, according to Article 39 bis of Decree Law 211. The Tribunal rejected the lawsuit by Mr. Alex Harry Castillo Olivera and Mr. Óscar Segundo Castillo Ossandón against Mr. David Marcelo Olivares Bahamondes and Mr. Luis Pedro Farías Quevedo, because there was no proof of their participation in the illicit agreement regarding the Santiago-Curacaví route. Servicios Pullman Bus Costa Central S.A., Paul Justin Fritz Gerhard Von Breitenbach Eyfriedt and Pedro Farías Soto had to pay Tribunal costs.