Asda’s owner has reportedly come under fire during a government meeting in which he ducked questions over the supermarket’s alleged anti-competitive fuel pricing practices.

Earlier this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded a year-long report of the fuel sector and hit Asda with a £60,000 fine after finding the supermarket’s decision to target higher fuel margins had weakened competition in the market.

In its report, the CMA concluded that drivers had been overcharged by the supermarket sector as a whole following a margin shift by Asda.

The watchdog also found that Asda's pence per litre fuel margin targets in 2023 were triple its 2019 level.

According to the Guardian, at the meeting with the Business and Trade Committee, Asda chief executive Mohsin Issa and the supermarket’s chief people officer Hayley Tatum were abraded over their conduct during the session.

At the meeting’s conclusion, Darren Jones, chair of the House of Commons business and trade select committee, told the pair: “This has been quite an extraordinary session... you've not answered any of our questions.”

The session followed a previous meeting with Asda’s chief commercial officer Kris Comerford, after which the Committee flagged concerns about so-called discrepancies made between his statements and findings of possible anti-competitive practice by the CMA.

Following the session, Issa was called back to give evidence to clarify evidence given by Comerford.

At the end of June, the Committee invited the chief executives of leading supermarkets to give evidence on fuel and food pricing.

Asda’s chief commercial officer Kris Comerford represented the company, with the Committee later flagging concerns

The Issa brothers completed a £6.8 billon takeover of Asda in 2021, with the supermarket now poised to buy the UK arm of EG Group’s petrol forecourts business, also owned by the Issas’, for more than £2 billion.

Share Story: