Four car glass makers have been hit with the European Commission’s largest cartel fine after being found guilty of “cheating” car buyers.
Asahi Glass, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Soliver have been ordered to pay 1.38bn euros (£1
The private bank of one of France’s biggest banks – BNP Paribas – has been fined $700,000 (£350,000) for allowing a senior manager to steal money from clients.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said controls in the bank’s London office were so weak that the employee had been able to take $3m (£1.4m)
The boss of Total has been placed under judicial investigation as police step up their probe into alleged corruption involving the French oil firm in Iran.
Christophe de Margerie was interviewed on Wednesday about claims of illegal payments made to secure a natural gas deal with Iran in 1997.
Being put under judicial investigation is the first step to formal charges
French oil firm Total says its head of exploration and production, Christophe de Margerie, is being investigated over claims that he paid bribes to win bids.
A French judge has also placed former Total executive Bernard de Combret under investigation.
Total said the allegations centred on deals relating to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq
The boss of French car parts firm Faurecia, Pierre Levi, has resigned following the start of a criminal investigation into alleged bribery.
Mr Levi’s departure comes as German prosecutors claim Faurecia paid bribes to carmakers such as VW and BMW in order to win their business.
Frankfurt-based prosecutor Sibylle Gottwald said Mr Levi was aware of the bribes but denied direct involvement
The European Commission has fined four firms 345m euros ($444m; £235m) for fixing prices and operating a cartel in the sale of acrylic glass products.
The punished companies were French group Arkema, British firms ICI and Lucite, and Irish business Quinn Barlo.
They were found to have fixed prices and exchanged sensitive information between 1997 and 2002
Manufacturers of some of the world’s most glamorous perfume and cosmetics brands were fined by French competition authorities yesterday after it was ruled that the companies had colluded to keep prices high at the expense of the consumer.
Thirteen iconic brands, including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior and Guerlain, and three leading French retailers were fined almost £32 million between them for inflating prices between 1997 and 2000.
The French competition council said that under the price-fixing arrangement, a “price police” was set up between them to artificially inflate prices, put pressure on individual vendors and threaten reprisals against those that refused to apply the prices set by the perfume and cosmetic brands
The European Commission has ordered French car group PSA Peugeot Citroen to pay a 49.5m euros ($59m; £34m) fine for breaking competition rules.
Brussels found that the firm’s Peugeot and Citroen marques blocked the cross-border sale of new cars from the Netherlands, where prices are cheapest
French stock market regulator AMF has filed complaints against media giant Vivendi Universal, its boss and another top executive.
It believes the prospectus for a bond issue was unclear and that executives may have had privileged information.
AMF has begun proceedings against Vivendi, its chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou and chief operating officer Jean-Bernard Levy
France Telecom has been sued for $5.74bn (4.26bn euros; £2