Testimony Opens in Israeli Food Market Price-Fixing Case

Testimony began Wednesday, a year and a half after indictments were filed in the food market case, against senior figures accused of coordinating moves that would lead to price increases. The defendants include Victory chain owner and CEO Eyal Raviv and Yochananoff owner and CEO Eitan Yochananoff.

This phase focuses on one of three alleged schemes in the indictment, in which Raviv is accused of trying to pressure food suppliers to raise prices for his competitors, Rami Levy and Yochananoff, before raising prices himself. The suppliers expected to testify about the alleged coordination are Eli Shani, vice president for trade and sales at Dr. Fischer, and Uri Levi, CEO of the canned-food company Beit Hashita.

According to a report first published by Calcalist, recordings and WhatsApp messages found on Raviv’s phone during a Competition Authority investigation show him pressing suppliers, including Levi and Shani, to increase prices. At the opening of the hearing, Ofer Maaz, head of the Competition Authority’s criminal department, said food retail is a major public concern because it affects the cost of living.

Maaz told the court that the case involves “serious events” in which a retailer allegedly acted to bring about higher prices. He said the law bars coordinating or attempting to coordinate price hikes, restricting promotions, or coordinating with a rival chain. He added that the evidence shows an attempt to reach understandings on price increases, and that after years in which raising prices was difficult because of the cottage-cheese protest, Raviv sought to be the first to move, in his words, to pull “the finger out of the dam” and trigger a “tsunami of price increases.”