Three months after Oscar Pistorius was sentence to time in prison, his family still is making news, and not in a good way.
The Sunday Independent has reported that Hendrik Pistorius & Co., a company that Oscar Pistorius' grandfather, Hendrik, founded in 1944, has been accused of fixing prices in the agricultural industry for a 13-year period beginning in 1995.
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According to the Independent, "The company is the bedrock of the Pistorius family's wealth, which has spread into various industries including property development, mining and tourism.
"It is run by Pistorius's uncle, Leo Pistorius, who has other business interests in the mining and tourism sector, and is still chaired by Pistorius' 95-year-old grandfather Hendrik. ..."
The Competition Commission has filed an application to have the company fined for allegedly being part of a price-fixing cartel from 1995-2008. The commission is asking for an administrative penalty of 10 percent of the company's turnover for the time the alleged price-fixing occurred, the Sunday Times Live reported.
The issue involves a fertilizer product, aglime.
The Independent added that the commission granted Grasland Ondernemings, another company implicated in the allegations, immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about the cartel activity.
Aglime is a soil additive produced from limestone that addresses the problem of soil acidity, which is a problem for farmers, the Independent reported. The product provides nutrients to plants in the soil and helps get rid of poisonous substances that may affect development.
The Pistorius family vehemently denies the charges through its lawyers.
"The complaint relates to allegations by a disgruntled customer and previous business partner dating back to 2008 and all (and every) allegations of price-fixing are absolutely denied, Pistorius' lawyers countered.
The news comes on the heels of a reckless and negligent driving charge against Oscar's older brother, Carl. The reason for the charge, according to Colonel Ronel Otto of the South African Police Service in the Limpopo Province, was that Carl Pistorius did not respond to several attempts by the investigating officer of getting information about an accident in which he was involved on Aug. 1.
Multiple media outlets reported that another car driving in the opposite direction swerved into Pistorius' lane.
Oscar Pistorius, meanwhile, is behind bars for a five-year culpable homicide charge in the shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp but is awaiting an appeals trial in which prosecutors will try to get the murder charge reinstated.
Oscar Pistorius was to serve a 10-month sentence at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in South Africa before being released into house arrest for the remainder of the five years, but the appeal will eliminate the possibility of Pistorius exiting the prison in just five months.
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