Former Bingo boss Daniel Tartak pleads guilty in Sydney skip bin cartel case
Former Bingo Industries boss Daniel Tartak has pleaded guilty to colluding with competitors to push up skip bin prices in Sydney.
Former Bingo Industries boss Daniel Tartak faces $440,000 in fines or 10 years in jail over his role in engineering a price fixing deal on demolition waste services in Sydney.
Tartak pleaded guilty on Thursday to criminal cartel offences, two months after he and his former skip bin company were charged by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC charged Tartak with criminal cartel offences on August 22, alleging he and Bingo cut a deal with its competitor Aussie Skip Bin Services and Aussie Skips Recycling to push up prices on skip bins for building and demolition waste.
The charges came after ACCC launched an investigation into the price fixing deal in December 2019.
The formerly ASX-listed waste company Bingo Industries notified the market about the investigation in January 2020, before it was bought by Macquarie in a $2.3bn deal last year.
Bingo, which snapped up its competitor Dial a Dump in a $577.5m deal, told the market in November 2019 it was pushing through a NSW pricing increase.
The company told investors it was aiming for a 30 per cent lift in its group earnings on the back of its pricing lift.
The ACCC alleged Bingo lifted its prices by at least 25 per cent, claiming the cartel companies allegedly arranged to increase processing services fees.
Bingo allegedly lifted their prices by at least $60 a tonne and $25 per cubic metre.
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb on Thursday said the regulator was committed to targeting cartels.
“Colluding with your competitors to increase prices at the expense of your customers is serious cartel conduct,” she said.
“Taking appropriate action against companies and individuals allegedly involved is a significant part of our work.”
Tartak built Bingo from a small business in Sydney’s suburbs into the $2.3bn behemoth.
Fellow waste king Ian Malouf, who sold Dial-A-Dump to Bingo, sits on the company’s board.
The case is now set for sentencing in the Federal Court in March next year.
Tartak has been contacted for comment.
Bingo said it had co-operated with the ACCC and “regrets that the matter occurred”.
“Since the matter occurred there have been significant changes in Bingo’s ownership, Board and executive team, including improvements to Bingo’s governance processes,” the company said.
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