Construction firms fined €14m after British probe

TWO of the country’s biggest construction firms have been fined a total of €14.25 million as part of a major fraud investigation in Britain into illegally rigging contracts.

Durkan Pudelek Limited was fined €7,420,161 (£6,720,551) while John Sisk & Son UK and Sicon (SISK Group) was fined €6,836,176 (£6,191,627) by Britain’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The OFT issued penalties totalling £129.5m (€143.1m) to 103 companies operating in Britain.

The OFT said companies colluded with competitors on building contracts and this meant customers were at risk of being overcharged. Most of the offences involved so-called cover pricing, where one or more bidders arranges for competitors to put down high bids, it said.

These bids are not to win the contract but are submitted as genuine and give a misleading impression to clients about the level of competition.

However, in a statement, Durkan Limited and Durkan Holdings said the OFT was wrong to fine them.

“Durkan Limited has not engaged in bid-rigging as the OFT maintains and will be robustly defending its position,” said the company.

Chief executive Danny Durkan said the company continues to operate a “competitive practice policy that meets the requirements of the new code issued by the UK Contractors Group and National Federation of Builders”.

The Sisk Group said it accepted an OFT finding of a single infringement, that of giving a cover price in 2003 at its midlands regional office, before the law “in this respect was clarified”.

The company said it fully cooperated with the OFT throughout the inquiry.

SISK Group chief executive Liam Nagle said the company was “surprised and dismayed” at the level of the fine, and was disappointed the OFT had chosen to levy a fine on SISK Group turnover that included revenues from non-British activities and non-construction-related activities.