Commissioner of competition intends to impose a financial sanction on Neto Melinda of NIS 15 million

The commissioner of the competition, attorney Michal Cohen, announced that she intends to impose a financial sanction on Neto Melinda in the amount of NIS 15 million for violations of the Food Law. The background to the fine is a broad investigation that the authority launched about a year ago to examine systematic violations of the Food Law.
At the end of the inspection, preliminary evidence was gathered on the violations of about 10 leading suppliers, but the Authority decided due to limited resources to offer the suppliers a deal: pay a reduced amount and in return, the inspection will be closed without an acknowledgment on their part. Out of about 10 companies, 7 companies agreed to the deal and paid 23 million shekels in aggregate, in fines that ranged from hundreds of thousands of shekels to a few million shekels.
Among the food suppliers that were the focus of the inspection and with whom the Authority reached an agreement at the time were Asem, Layman Schlissel, Snow, Shastovich, Unilever, Angel, Strauss, Tnuva, and Soget.
Three companies refused to sign the deal and claimed that since the violations were not presented to them, they were not prepared to pay without the possibility of appeal. Among the three companies was also Neto Melinda, in addition to Sano and Soget. Since the companies refused the deal, the investigation continued. Now the commissioner announces that she intends to impose sanctions on Neto.