A Co Mayo businessman who pleaded guilty to price-fixing in a home-heating oil cartel in Galway city and county has been disqualified from acting as a company director or manager for five years.
Eugene Dalton of Claremorris was fined €10,000 in January for his involvement in the cartel and his company Corrib Oil, which also pleaded guilty, was fined €15,000.
His guilty plea in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last October to a single count of price-fixing resulted in automatic disqualification but this was only recently notified to the Companies Office.
The courts are obliged under the Companies Act of 1990 to notify convictions "in relation to a company" to the Companies Office, which maintains a disqualification register.
On its website, the Companies Office notes that Dalton "was convicted of an offence which has the effect of his being deemed to be subject to a disqualification order". He is the second cartel member to be disqualified due to his involvement in the case.
Alleged cartel "enforcer" JP Lambe, also from Claremorris, who received a €15,000 fine and a six-month suspended sentence, was also disqualified for five years. Lambe took part in the cartel through the Connacht Oil Promotion Federation and his was the first custodial sentence received by an individual in the Republic or the rest of Europe for a competition law offence.
He had pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to both counts on a Bill of indictment to aiding and abetting Corrib Oil in price-fixing. Sentencing Lambe, Judge Delahunt said: "Without your talent, acumen and knowledge of the business, the kind of distortion before the court could not have functioned to any sort of significant level."
The disqualifications of Dalton and Lambe are in line with a provision in Section 160 of the 1990 Act which prevents a person who is convicted on indictment of any indictable offence "in relation to a company" from acting as a director or taking a management role for five years.
A total of 17 individuals and companies were convicted last year for their involvement in the cartel. The Director of Public Prosecutions entered nolle prosequis in three other cases and made clear its intention to enter a nolle prosequi in another case.
Criminal cases against two other defendants are outstanding.
