ÚOHS fines cartel of four construction companies 7.4 million crowns

The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) has detected and punished a cartel of construction companies Hroší stavby Morava, Commodum, Sežev facility and B.H.S. Bohemia in several contracts of the Railway Administration announced in 2015. It fined them a total of CZK 7.4 million. The decision is final and the companies must pay the fines, the authority announced.

"The companies illegally agreed on their participation and bids in three public contracts of the Railway Administration awarded in 2015. The members of the cartel subsequently submitted their pre-aligned bids to the contracting authority, thereby acting in concert with the aim of distorting competition," ÚOHS said.

When imposing individual fines, the Office based its decision on the value of the public contracts in which the 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. This resulted in a reduction of the original fine by CZK 20 million.

As a result, Hroší stavby must pay CZK 3 million, Commodum CZK 1.7 million, Sežev facility CZK 2 million and B.H.S. Bohemia CZK 538,000. Due to the use of the settlement procedure, they cannot defend the fine by filing an administrative action with the Regional Court in Brno.

Source: ÚOHS and CTK
Photo: ÚOHS