According to the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition, the construction companies Hroší stavby Morava, Commodum, Sežev facility and BHS Bohemia entered into a cartel agreement for several contracts issued by the Railway Administration in 2015. The office fined them a total of 7.4 million crowns. The decision is final and the companies must pay the fines.
“The companies illegally colluded on their participation and bids in three public contracts of the Railway Administration awarded in 2015. The cartel members subsequently submitted pre-coordinated bids to the contracting authorities, thereby acting in concert with each other with the aim of disrupting economic competition,” the ÚOHS said.
Indeed, the Office discovered the indexation of individual item prices in the bids of individual competitors and, after conducting evidence, concluded that this indexation must have been the result of agreements between the parties to the proceedings.
When imposing individual fines, the office was based on the value of public contracts, during which cartel members agreed on the procedure. All companies met the conditions for the so-called settlement, admitted their wrongdoing and actively cooperated with the authority. They thus achieved a reduction of the original fine by 20 million crowns.
As a result, Hroší stavby Morava must pay three million crowns, Commodum 1.7 million crowns, Sežev facilities two million crowns and BHS Bohemia 538,000 crowns. Due to the use of the straightening procedure, they cannot fine defend by filing an administrative lawsuit at the Regional Court in Brno.
Tags: Construction companies fined million cartel public contracts
