According to the final decision, to which Lusa had access, "the Castel Group engaged in the practice of fixing prices and other conditions applicable to resale by a network of independent distributors in the informal channel, by direct and indirect means throughout the territory national", violating the competition law, punishable by a fine.
In this sense, the Castel Group, a company of French origin, must pay a fine equivalent to 3.2 percent of its turnover, referring to the last financial year, as established in the Competition Law.
With regard to the accusation of abuse of a dominant position, the Competition Regulatory Authority decided to close it due to insufficient evidence.
Speaking to Lusa, the president of AGEDBAA, Restiny Henriques, expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, stating that, on Monday, they would submit a contestation to the Competition Regulatory Authority.
"We are not satisfied for a very simple reason, because our companies are bankrupt due to that bad management, so we are going now - as the document says, we have 15 days to challenge the decision - to make a challenge to the Competition Regulatory Authority", he said. Restiny Henriques.
The association leader defended that in addition to the fine passed by the State, "they should have the damage repaired".
"It is the most logical thing, since our companies are at a standstill, because the State wins. With open companies, jobs are created, taxes are paid, it is the State that wins. We will contest it and then we will meet with the area of the President of the Republic in relation to this", he stressed.
"If the Competition Regulatory Authority does not give us a healthy response, we will meet at the Presidency of the Republic, specifically in the economic area", he added.
According to Restiny Henriques, the association will seek to negotiate a non-refundable investment with the State, "because the State is already going to win and, being a good person, it has to seek a balance in court".
"The State, which is the inspector, receives money and the companies remain bankrupt, justice has not been done well, unless the State, with that money, gives us half to repair the damage", he underlined, noting that the association had claimed damages of US$2.3 million.
Restiny Henriques said he believed that the amount of the fine could be around US$20 million, given the turnover of the business group in question.
"The Competition Regulatory Authority is responsible for the calculations, which belongs to the Ministry of Finance, they know how much they declared in terms of income. Only they have this exact information, I believe it is more than 20 million dollars , because they have a high turnover. If they concretely declare the business, that is a lot of money, if it is a false declaration, it is little", he stressed.
The Castel Group, with a portfolio of beer brands Cuca, Eka, Nocal, soft drinks and energy drinks, has beverage production units throughout the country.
AGEDBAA denounced that the business group determines the purchase and sale price of its products and gave competitive advantages to a group of 15 distribution companies, determining the bonus margin.
"This Castel Angola group sells you expensive and has the beer sold cheap, determining a 4 percent discount, which it never returned, and this created a very great financial damage to our members", previously told Lusa, Restiny Henriques, stressing that the situation has been experienced since 2015, contributing to the bankruptcy of more than 40 companies affiliated to the association.
Lusa tried to get a reaction from the Castel Group, but without success so far.
