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Jury acquits defendants of cartel allegations in waste collection market in County Mayo

On 2 July 2009 a jury in the Central Criminal Court in Galway acquitted all five defendants in an alleged cartel case in the waste collection market in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. Despite three and a half years of investigation, it became apparent during the trial that the Competition Authority did not have a theory of harm. The prosecution's own witnesses stated that the defendants did not compete with each other and that there were efficiency benefits to the cooperation between the defendants. It was never alleged that the defendants expected to be able to raise prices as a result of the cooperation between them or that they sought to hide the cooperation. The jury took 15 minutes to dismiss all charges.

Mike Walker acted as economic advisor to the defence team.

See press coverage for further details.

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