Long Hand of the Law: Cameron threat to prosecute oil bosses

Oil company executives should face criminal prosecution if they are found to have fixed the price of petrol, David Cameron has said.

The Prime Minister said he will urgently look at “extending criminal offences” to cover market manipulation in the energy sector, after BP and Shell were raided by European authorities on suspicion of rigging oil prices. Amid fears that British motorists could have been duped into paying thousands of pounds too much for petrol over the past decade, Mr Cameron told the companies they will face the “full force of the law” if the accusations are true. However Mr Cameron’s comments also raise the prospect that companies who are found to have manipulated household gas or electricity prices could also face criminal prosecution. Ministers are under pressure to take action as the investigation already has echoes of last year’s Libor controversy, which saw banks falsely report key interest rates. Following that scandal the Government created new laws which made it an offence to manipulate the benchmark mortgage interest rate. Now Mr Cameron has said that law could be extended to cover oil prices. Tuesday 30 July 2013