He President Gabriel Boric stated that collusion in the industrial, medicinal and special gases market, which allegedly took place, at least, between November 2019 and January 2021, that is, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, may represent a «serious attack» on public health.
The National Economic Prosecutor’s Office denounced transnational companies before the Court for the Defense of Free Competition Indura and Linde and three of its executives, for agreeing to a «non-aggression pact», a relationship of «peace and love» that was developed in a cafe in Las Condes during the days of the social outbreak and that affected in 2020 a tender from the Félix Bulnes Hospital for the supply of oxygen and other gases.
«It sounds like a very strange, complex issue, but just so everyone knows, (both companies) They artificially increased oxygen prices during the pandemic when hospitals needed it most«said the President during an activity in the O’Higgins Region.
«This is outrageous and we cannot accept it, because oxygen collusion compromises not only the functioning of markets or some industries, but also We have a reasonable doubt that it may have seriously affected public health as one of those affected was the Félix Bulnes Hospital, which is one of the largest in the Metropolitan Region.«, held.
The head of state emphasized that the fact that both companies have involved the supply to the healthcare center in their collusion, «could have compromised the provision of their services in the most complex moments of the pandemic.»
«It is hard to believe that in the moments when oxygen was most needed, precisely, so many people lost their lives, there are people who thought they could do business illegally at the expense of it,» he condemned.
For this reason, Boric instructed the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguilera, that «bring the information to the attention of the State Defense Council to evaluate legal actions, because we believe that this could also be a serious attack on public health and we are not going to allow it.»
The alleged collusion in the oxygen market during the pandemic is something that must be thoroughly investigated and that we cannot tolerate as a society. I have instructed the Minister of Health @ximenaguilera put the background information in the hands of the State Defense Council to evaluate the… pic.twitter.com/PjMldbeCTB
— Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) May 8, 2024
The day before, the Minister of Economy, Nicolas Grau, valued at Cooperative that «the quality of the evidence is very high (…) very solid» on the part of the FNE, «and therefore we see with a high probability that there will end up being a sanction.» And he estimated that, a posteriori, «it could happen that the Treasury eventually asks for compensation for the hospital.»
In its request, the FNE requests that the TDLC apply fines to tax benefits for a total of 37,999 Annual Tax Units (UTA), which are equivalent to $31.3 million, about 29,841 million pesos: the amount is broken down into 31.2 million dollars (29,732 million pesos) as a sanction to Indura, and 114,392 dollars (109 million pesos) to its general manager, Marcelo Towers. For Linde, he requested his exemption for having availed himself of the «compensated denunciation.»