Pratt 'told PM he did nothing wrong'

Cardboard king Richard Pratt was reluctant to settle a multi-million-dollar
price-fixing case because he had told then prime minister John Howard that he had
done nothing wrong, a court has been told.
In a meeting to settle the cartel case last August, a lawyer for the Visy Industries
chairman told members of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
that Pratt was not prepared to agree to a settlement because he had told Mr Howard
he was not part of a cartel.
Giving evidence in the Federal Court on Thursday, lead ACCC investigator Geoffrey
Williams said he believed Pratt's barrister Jonathan Beech QC made the statement.
"They indicated they had difficulty in relation to Mr Pratt," Mr Williams said.
"They said there was a political issue. They said Mr Pratt had told the prime
minister he had not contravened the Trade Practices Act."
Mr Howard twice publicly supported Pratt during the cartel investigation, in 2005
and again last year, one month before Visy was fined $36 million for price fixing.
On both occasions Mr Howard refused to comment on the case.
"My own dealings with him have been very positive, and I have found him to be a
generous philanthropic person, an interesting man," he told reporters last year.
"He's made an enormous contribution to this country."
Pratt is now facing criminal charges for misleading the ACCC.
It is alleged Pratt misled the commission at a hearing in 2005 when he denied a
conversation he allegedly had about price fixing with Amcor chief executive Russell
Jones in 2001.
A pre-trial hearing is taking place this week to determine what evidence will be
admissible in Pratt's trial.
The court was told on Thursday the ACCC had insisted Pratt admit to his role in the
cartel.
Mr Williams said Pratt's lawyers eventually agreed to the settlement, knowing if the
case was contested the evidence from the trial could be used in class action
litigation.
The settlement included an agreed statement of facts in which Pratt admitted to
being part of a cartel.
The statement came with a provision that it not be used in any other case.
Mr Williams said it was his understanding that the statement could not be used in a
criminal proceeding.
He said Graeme Davidson, a deputy director of the Commonwealth DPP, also indicated a
belief to him that the admission could not be used against Pratt in a criminal
trial.
Prosecutors allege Pratt also made admissions in a newspaper article and in a public
statement in which he said: "I have accepted responsibility for comments made by me
to the then Amcor CEO Russell Jones when he invited me to lunch."
The hearing before Justice Donnell Ryan, sitting in Melbourne, is expected to
continue on Friday.