" Polish
prosecutors have charged executives who worked for nine construction companies,
including several multinationals, of illegal price fixing to win
European-funded road-building contracts, court documents seen by Reuters show.
(…)
The firms
whose current or former executives have been charged include some of Europe's
biggest builders or their subsidiaries: Austria 's
Strabag , Portugal 's
Mota Engil , and units of Spain
When
contacted by Reuters, Strabag and Mota Engil denied they were involved in
price-fixing. Bouygues, Vinci and the Ferrovial unit declined to comment on
whether they were involved. Several of the firms said the executives concerned
were no longer with the company. (….)
Prosecutors
say they recorded phone conversations in which, they said, executives passed on
sensitive bid information to executives from firms they should have been
competing with to win road-building contracts. (…)
In one
wiretap cited in the documents, the man who at the time was a Strabag executive
tells an executive from Polish construction firm Mostostal-Warszawa in June
2009: "At this Hilton, there will be three rooms ... This room that I
reserved for you at the Hilton, there are two rooms. You will have room number
698."
The room
number, prosecutors say, was code for the lowest bid Mostostal Warszawa should
lodge. The Strabag executive is quoted as saying: "You know I can't talk
openly because you know those sons of bitches are listening."
In the
tender, Mostostal Warszawa bid 699 million euros, another group led by PBDM bid
703 million euros. The contract was awarded to a consortium including Strabag
and Mota Engil, which bid lower than the others at 675 million euros.
Prosecutors
allege that, under the price-fixers' plan, the companies that deliberately lost
that contract were to have been allowed to win others. In the event, this did
not happen because members of the consortia not taking part in the scheme did
not play along.
A
spokeswoman for Strabag said its manager who had been charged by Polish
prosecutors had left the company earlier this month. Strabag "wasn't
involved in any price-fixing or unlawful activity in relation to the S8
contract", and had strict rules on how contracts are implemented, she
said.
The Strabag
spokeswoman said the company had carried out an internal investigation, now
completed, that did not reveal any violations.
A
spokeswoman for Mota Engil Central Europe said neither the company nor any of
its executives was involved in any way in price-fixing activities in Poland
Fonte e notícia completa em: http://www.reuters.com/
