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Australia’s Watchdog Says “Exculpatory” Witness Statement Cut In Citi, Deutsche Cartel Case

 |  July 20, 2020

The ACCC stated Monday, July 20 that it deleted parts of a witness statement showing Citigroup and Deutsche Bank tried to follow the rules in a stock issue at the centre of Australia’s biggest white-collar criminal lawsuit, reported Reuters. 

Under questioning from a lawyer for Deutsche Bank, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission senior official Jane Lin told a pre-trial hearing in Sydney she did not know why the material was deleted. 

Lin was shown a JPMorgan Chase draft witness statement which included suggestions the banks were concerned about disrupting an orderly market if they dumped their unsold shares simultaneously. The final signed statement excluded the remarks. 

“The ACCC has exercised parts of his draft which demonstrate an intention … to do the right thing by the market,” Deutsche Bank lawyer Marugan Thangaraj said.

Full Content: Reuters

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