Richard Pratt, Jew, third richest man in Oz and philanthropist [ see Samuel makes it personal ] had a bastard out of his mistress. He also beat the rap in various investigations. He has something better than AU$4.7 billion and lives in considerable style. Why not, of course?

He has just been charged with price fixing in collusion with his main competitor and one of his senior men has been taped talking. The man who charged him is Graeme Samuel who is also a rich Jew [ Samuel makes it personal ], one who has rocked various boats over the years.

Pratt beat various later fraud raps by dying. It's a trick that works, usually. Stonehouse failed when he tried that one.

From http://newsbreak.com.au/topic/Richard-Pratt

Pratt hit by cartel charges
Billionaire cardboard king, Richard Pratt, Australia's third-richest man, faces multi-million-dollar fines for allegedly orchestrating a huge price-fixing racket in the $1.8 billion box market. The Australian — 22 December, 2005

 

Pratt executives taped talking of box price-fixing
QUOTE
THE head of Richard Pratt's box-making empire was secretly recorded discussing price-fixing deals by a former senior executive of rival company Amcor, it can be revealed, as the billionaire businessman yesterday insisted the collusion allegations were false.

Mr Pratt, Australia's third-richest man and chairman of Visy Industries, defied the charges by the competition watchdog, which carry multi-million-dollar fines, saying: "I'm confident that the evidence will show I had no part in any market-sharing agreement or understanding with my competitors." But sources told The Australian yesterday that at least one senior Visy executive - Harry Debney, the chief executive of Visy Board - was secretly captured on tape by former Amcor executive Jim Hodgson talking about price-fixing plans.

And conversations between other executives at the companies were covertly recorded over a number of years.

"It was dumbfounding," the source said of the conversations alleged to have been captured on tape. Lawyers for Visy declined to comment on the claims.

In what would be the biggest price-fixing case in Australian corporate history, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges that Mr Pratt, Mr Debney and former general manager of Visy Board Rod Carroll are all guilty of breaching the Trade Practices Act by striking deals with their main rival Amcor.

Amcor has been given immunity from prosecution by the ACCC  [  Australian Competition and Consumer Commission  ] for turning on their collusion partners to reveal the scams allegedly running between 2000 and last year.

As Mr Pratt and Mr Debney rejected the allegations in a bizarre press conference yesterday at which the wealthy industrialist and philanthropist handed out hampers to the media, [ It helps to get the press on side. Editor ]  observers said the case could drag on for years.
UNQUOTE
Quite a lot of people are going to sue for the over charging. Fair enough.

 

Amcor could yet take a boxing
If Amcor thinks its immunity agreement will protect it from the case against Visy Industries, it will find no refreshment from Coca-Cola Amatil. - (The Age — 10 hours ago)
+ related stories

 

Crossed paths, crossed swords
Malcolm Maiden looks at the lives of the ACCC [  Australian Competition and Consumer Commission  ] chief Graeme Samuel and Richard Pratt. - (Sydney Morning Herald — 13 hours ago)
+ related stories

Why would Visy collude when it was the clear winner?
Any market sharing or box pricing deal would be a boon to Amcor, so why would Visy offer one? - (The Age — 11 hours ago)
+ related stories

Cornered box baron will probably fold in the end
Richard Pratt knows how to do a song and dance. But do not for a second confuse the cornered billionaire's insouciant theatre with real life. The Australian — 11 hours ago)
+ related stories

Top end of town silent
Richard Pratt came out punching in silk mittens yesterday but his peers and beneficiaries were ducking and weaving to avoid having to comment on the multi-billionaire's latest scandal. The Australian — 11 hours ago)
+ related stories

Backroom dealer versus the hands-on entrepreneur
The two men in the nation's biggest cartel case have little in common. - (The Age — 12 hours ago)
+ related stories

 

Paper trail: ordinary places become notorious
The places where the alleged price-fixing deals were done between Visy and Amcor are in many cases snapshots of suburbia. - (The Age — 12 hours ago)
+ related stories

 

Amcor to pay all of Jones' legal fees
Packaging giant Amcor has written a blank cheque to former chief executive Russell Jones for legal fees he may rack up during the investigation and prosecution of alleged price fixing with billionaire Richard Pratt. - (The Age — 12 hours ago)
+ related stories

Billionaire Pratt accused
Packaging tycoon faces hundreds of millions in fines if found guilty of involvement in illegal price-fixing scheme. - (The Age — 13 hours ago)
+ related stories

High altitude shares in cruising mode

The extraordinary upward run in the Australian sharemarket showed some signs of running out of momentum on Thursday as satisfied investors loosened their belts and looked forward to the Christmas break. (Australian Financial Review — 19 hours ago)
+ related stories

 

PM praises embattled Pratt

Prime Minister John Howard has praised embattled Visy Industries chairman Richard Pratt, who is facing prosecution in the Federal Court for alleged price fixing. The Australian — 20 hours ago)
+ related stories   Little Johnny Howard just loves Jews, any Jew, no matter what. Rich Jews are preferred.

 

Shares drop amid price-fix claims

Amcor shares fall in early trading following allegations of price fixing with packaging rival Visy. - (The Age — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

 

Amcor shares fall on Visy action

Shares in global packager Amcor fell in early trading despite the company receiving immunity from prosecution in price fixing case being brought by the competition watchdog. The Australian — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

 

Leniency lifts the lid on box cartel

It takes at least two to tango in a cartel so there was never any doubt there would be a fallout after Amcor last year confessed that it had participated in cartel conduct in its corrugated box business. The Australian — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

Pratt hit by cartel charges

Billionaire cardboard king Richard Pratt, Australia's third-richest man, faces multi-million-dollar fines for allegedly orchestrating a huge price-fixing racket in the $1.8 billion box market. The Australian — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

Samuel makes it personal

The archangel of competition, Graeme Samuel, has finally pulled the trigger. The Australian — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

 

Samuel makes it personal
THE archangel of competition, Graeme Samuel, has  called Australia's third-richest man, Richard Pratt AC, to account. He has made it personal.

They are both sons of Melbourne's Jewish business establishment and share a world of interests from opera to AFL. They are wealthy, Pratt beyond anyone's wildest dreams. But few men with so much in common could be so essentially different.

Richard Pratt, 71, is a man so wealthy that he no longer has parties, he hosts "receptions". The billionaire box-maker lives in ostentatious splendour at Raheen, a Yarra-side mansion built by the Collingwood crook John Wren for the Catholic archbishop Daniel Mannix.

A knockabout bloke who briefly tried acting and still loves a good singalong, Pratt took over father Leon's paper business in 1969, where he showed a fierce business acumen.

 

Boxed-in billionaire
His rise to riches was too fast not have thrills and spills. He worked with John Elliot but didn't get charged by the National Crime Authority unlike John. He had political ambitions too.

There were lots of people on the pay roll including  two former Labor prime ministers, ex-premiers of NSW and Victoria and a former commissioner of Victoria Police.

Bob Hawke was for  in for AU$8333,33 a month. Gough Whitlam came in for AU$27,220.03. He also bunged ackers at Liberal and Labor [ sic ].

Nick Greiner and former Victorian premier Rupert Hamer and  ex-police commissioner Mick Miller were also on the strength. While still married to long-time partner Jeanne, Pratt, somewhat notoriously, has had a child, Paula, with a far younger Sydney socialite, Shari-lea Hitchcock.

Even more notoriously, representatives of the billionaire mistakenly offered a journalist, instead of a lawyer, some hush money to drop a court complaint made by Hitchcock's nanny. The repercussions were prolonged and severe in terms of unwanted public exposure.

But as Pratt's business grew exponentially, he must have felt the bad old days of the '80s, and his stoush with the NCA, were well behind him. However, he had made a lifelong enemy of Hancock, who left Visy in 1993 and made sensational allegations of anti-competitive conduct.

The ACCC duly launched an investigation and, to Hancock's disgust, took the matter no further. Allegations by Pratt that Hancock had stolen money from him were also given short shrift. Hancock later became a consultant to the box industry and in November 2003 sought a meeting with Amcor boss Russell Jones. He admits he was acting in self-interest because a formal consultancy agreement with Amcor had lapsed and he expected to be paid for his market insights.

Hancock, though, had some unpleasant news for Jones, telling him that people in the industry were being indiscreet. The word around town was that Amcor would not compete against Visy on price. Hancock recalls that Jones's response was offhand. A year later, Jones would sensationally resign, after Amcor handed information to the ACCC suggesting the company might have been engaged in anti-competitive conduct.

Pratt and Debney say it's illegal or unusual for competitors to meet and discuss industry issues. "If, as a result of any such discussions, our competitor formed the view that it had a market-sharing agreement or understanding that included Visy, then it was mistaken," they say.

Hancock, for his part, still keeps chipping away. Last month he wrote to Visy arguing the company still owed him money. The ACCC's cartel investigation was Hancock's reference point.

Visy's general counsel Robert Kaye replied in outrage on December 5. "Quite frankly, we regard your demands, and in particular this latest threat, as bordering on blackmail, and given the history associated with your demands we have thought it appropriate to forward a copy of your letter to the ACCC," Kaye writes.

However, based on yesterday's events, it seems the ACCC is more Visy's foe than its friend.
 

Top end of town silent
Being nice to people pays off. Jews aren't talking. Arts types aren't talking. You can see their point.

 

Crossed paths, crossed swords
They [ Dick and Sam ] are both Jews from Melbourne, in business and know each other. Now Sam has gone for the testicles.

King Richard — one out of the box

Tycoon, arts patron, dreamer of big ideas - Richard Pratt has come a long way since inheriting the family cardboard business. - (The Age — 22 December, 2005)
+ related stories

Remarkable life of a maverick tycoon The world could have been a stage for this paper tiger, writes James Kirby. - (Sydney Morning Herald — 21 December, 2005)
+ related stories

Pratt accused of price-fixing cartel

THE country's third richest man, Richard Pratt, colluded in a cardboard cartel that could cost him up to $427 million in penalties, documents submitted to the Federal Court say. - (Sydney Morning Herald — 21 December, 2005)
+ related stories

'Cardboard king' accused of price fixing

One of Australia's richest men Richard Pratt is facing legal action for alleged cartel activity Mr Pratt who is also known ast the cardboard king is the chairman of Visy Industries which mak (ABC News — 21 December, 2005)
+ related stories

Top end of town silent