Lockdowns Stalled Antitrust Raids, Deal Probes, Regulators Say
- Mundt says investigations resuming after virus slowed cases
- Regulator says companies begged for delays to fine payments
Andreas Mundt
Photographer: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa/AFP via Getty Images
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Antitrust investigations and merger reviews were hampered earlier this year as virus lockdowns left companies struggling to provide information and saw some beg for lower fines.
“What was difficult, it’s not a secret, were investigations, dawn raids” or surprise inspections to seize documents from companies involved in a probe, said Andreas Mundt, Germany’s antitrust chief, at a Berlin conference for European competition authorities. “It’s not so easy to go into a company in times of Covid-19, neither for us or for the company, by the way, for health reasons.”