Arguments in the rand manipulation case playing out in the Constitutional Court

JOHANNESBURG - It's been a week of arguments in the rand manipulation case that’s been playing out in the Constitutional Court.

The Competition Commission’s ten-year bid to have banks that were flagged for alleged price fixing made its way to the apex court.

The commission wants a ruling by the Competition Appeal Court barring the prosecution of 14 banks overturned.

28 banks were flagged for allegedly being involved in collusion to manipulate the rand dollar exchange between 2007 and 2013.

The Competition Commission’s bid before the Constitutional Court emanates from a 2020 complaint in which the commission referred 28 banks to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution.

Since then, some banks have settled with the commission while others were released by the Competition Appeal Court.

In January last year the appeal court ruled that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to prosecute the banks because the alleged conduct was not committed in South Africa.

This commission’s lawyers have challenged this in the apex court arguing that the South African rand which is a symbol of its sovereignty was manipulated and that banks in the country were allegedly involved and there is no other jurisdiction prosecuting the banks.

If the court rules in the commission’s favour about 16 banks will be referred to the tribunal for prosecution over 10 years since this legal battle began.