DRINKS giant Bacardi is to be investigated over a
three-year deal on rum sales to students that may infringe new competition laws, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday.
Bacardi faces a
multi-million pound fine if
it is found to have breached anti-monopoly rules.
The probe comes after NUSSL, the commercial arm of the National Union of Students, voted to accept a three-year ''sole supply'' agreement with Bacardi.
The #625,000 deal agrees on behalf of hundreds of student bars to stock only Bacardi white rum and not its rival Havana Club from Cuba.
This infuriated some students who oppose Bacardi's policy towards Cuba, in particular its support of the US trade embargo against the country.
Several university student unions have taken the step of banning the drink in their bars, according to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.
An OFT spokesman said: ''We have decided that there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that an infringement of the Competition Act 1998 has taken place, and will now investigate further.''
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