"The ARC has not been silent, the complainants are responding to all their requests, they have the right of access to the process, this process is in the instruction phase, the parties are presenting their contradictory and their objections", said this Wednesday the administrator of ARC, Ana Ramalheira, when asked by Lusa.
And "as soon as there is a condemnatory decision, we will publish the non-confidential version of this process, so there is no silence from the ARC", she assured, stressing that processes of this kind are long and take place confidentially.
The secrecy of the investigations arises "due to the good name and reputation of the companies, legal certainty and trust in the institutions".
"There are processes whose investigations last 24 months and the instruction can last 12 months or not, which are legal deadlines", justified the responsible, during a press conference to launch the III Annual Conference on the four years of existence of the body.
The head of the ARC's Legal and Litigation Department, Adalberto Cauaia, admitted, on the occasion, that the results of the said process should be known in early 2023.
The process involving Grupo Castel and the Association of Wholesalers and Distributors of Beverages and Food in Angola (AGDBAA) has been under way for almost two years with the ARC, a body overseen by the Ministry of Finance.
The president of the AGDBAA accused, last week, the Castel group of anti-competitive practices that led to the bankruptcy of dozens of companies.
According to Restiny Henrique, in statements to Lusa, the harmful measures imposed by the Castel Angola group, maker of Cuca beer, are at stake, which "violate" the laws of commercial activities and competition.
Restiny Henrique explained that the business group of French origin determines the purchase and sale price of its products and gives competitive advantages to a group of 15 distribution companies, determining the bonus margin.
"This Castel Angola group sells you high prices and orders the beer to be sold cheaply, determining a 4 percent discount that it never refunded and this created a great deal of financial damage to our members", said the president of the AGDBAA.
The decisions of Castel Angola, which owns beverage production units across the country, have "harmful consequences" for its members, noted the official, indicating that the situation has lasted since 2015.
These "harmful measures imposed" by the producer, whose portfolio includes the brands of beers Cuca, Eka, Nocal, soft drinks and energy drinks, contributed to the bankruptcy of more than 40 companies affiliated to the association, accused Restiny Henrique.
The president of AGDBAA, who displayed a series of documents to substantiate his arguments, also reported on a study carried out by the association reflecting annual losses of more than 8.8 million kwanzas at company level, as a result of the measures taken by Castel Angola.
"According to the study we carried out, a company that sold 50,000 crates per month lost more than 8.8 million kwanzas in a year", underlined Henrique, adding that eight of the more than 40 bankrupt companies claim damages of more than 1.1 billion of kwanzas.
"The bankruptcy of these companies brought enormous consequences for families with the unemployment of those responsible and they also stopped contributing taxes to the State, because after Unitel (telecommunications operator) and Sonangol (state oil company), the beverage sector was the third largest taxpayer in the state", he pointed out.
The association, according to Restiny Henrique, sent a case to the Attorney General's Office (PGR), "with all the documentary evidence", accusing Castel Angola of the crime of "fraud by defrauding", but the case was "strangely filed" by the Luanda PGR.
The bankruptcy situation of wholesalers and beverage distributors in Angola has already been reported to the President, João Lourenço, to the Ministries of Industry and Commerce, Finance and the Economy and Finance Commission of the National Assembly.
In a certificate that Lusa had access to, ARC confirms that "files in the investigation phase of the sanctioning process" are running in the food and beverage distribution sector, with three companies from the Castel Angola group having been set up.
The records, says the ARC certificate dated 16 June 2021, were opened following the filing of the complaint, "with strong evidence of the alleged commission of offenses that constitute restrictive competition practices".
"The process has been in progress since January 21, 2020, in accordance with the provisions of n.º 1 of the article 27 of Law no. 5/18, Competition Law", reads the document.
Restiny Henrique also complained about 'lobbies' in the beverage and food production and distribution chain, noting that, in Angola, many of the producers are both wholesalers and/or retailers, situations that "blemish" healthy competition.
The Lusa agency contacted, by telephone, the marketing manager of the Castel group, Sara Bayyurt, to comment on the accusations, but she said she was not the right person to speak.
A message sent, asking for the telephone number or e-mail of the person responsible in the Castel group for contacts with the media, also went unanswered.
