Britain’s OFT includes P&G, Unilever in investigation

LONDON Declining comment on specifics of its inquiry, Britain’s Office of Fair Trading paid a visit to Procter & Gamble offices and requested a similar visit to Unilever headquarters in relation to a price-fixing investigation, according to published reports. Both companies deny any wrongdoing.

An English paper on Sunday reported that the OFT had raided the headquarters of leading U.K. supermarkets, including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Wm Morrison, and seized “hundreds of e-mails.”

A spokesman for P&G, according to reports, affirmed that the OFT had paid a visit on Thursday

Likewise, a Unilever spokesman confirmed that the OFT on Friday had requested that the company hand over information about price changes. "We will, of course, respond in due course," said the spokesman.

"Consistent with our principles, we are fully cooperating with their inquiries. We don't have any additional information to offer at this stage but can say that it's P&G's policy to fully abide by the spirit and letter of the law," P&G stated.

The supermarkets involved in last week’s raids have rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing, as well.