Dreams denies collusion in Chile casino tender
Chilean casino operator Dreams has once again rejected the allegations of collusion made against the company by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE). In October the FNE filed a request against Dreams, Enjoy, and Marina del Sol for alleged collusion in the casino bidding processes conducted in 2020 and 2021.
Although the deadline to respond to the FNE’s request expired on November 29, the president and owner of the firm, Claudio Fischer; the general manager of Dreams, Jaime Wilhelm; and the manager of administration and finance, Claudio Teada, submitted dilatory exceptions to the Tribunal for the Defence of Free Competition (TDLC). A dilatory exception is a formal objection made by a party in court that is intended to delay the legal process, but not dismiss the case entirely.
These requests were rejected by the court on January 16, so Fischer, advised by his lawyers, submitted his response to the TDLC denying the accusations.
“We reject the accusations made against our client, as he has neither executed nor celebrated, directly or indirectly, the agreement referred to in the request, nor has he been involved in any conduct contrary to free competition, nor in any actions that would produce such effects,” states the document.
The text also addresses the proposed fine, which is described as “absolutely improper, disproportionate, and unjustified.”
The defence explained that the decision to compete only for the renewal of the awarded licenses and not pursue other positions did not stem from an agreement with competitors, but was “an independent and rational decision” from the economic perspective adopted by the Dreams board during the meeting on August 31, 2021.
Furthermore, according to the document, Fischer had instructed the other two directors not to signal to the competition their decision to participate only in the renewal of their positions. As part of the competitive strategy, the board instructed the establishment of companies to participate in the 12 positions at stake.
Another reason presented by the owner of Dreams was that the economic offers submitted by the chain “were competitive,” and the context of the investigated tenders did not lend itself to an agreement between competitors, given that they were open to all interested parties, both current and potential.
Additionally, it was detailed that “the request itself states that Fischer had no involvement or knowledge of the majority of the facts on which the FNE bases its request” and that, therefore, he was never aware of the alleged existence of an agreement among competitors.
In October the FNE accused casino companies Dreams, Enjoy, and Marina del Sol, along with five of their senior executives, of colluding to secure bidding for operating permits nationwide. In a filing submitted to the TDLC the FNE specified that for the bidding processes conducted by the Superintendence of Gaming Casinos (SCJ) in 2020 and 2021, the companies agreed that each would bid for the renewal of the permits they already held at that time.
