ÚOHS suspects five builders of cartel agreement

Brno, March 6 (CTK) - Antitrust office UOHS suspects five builders on the Czech market of cartel agreement in the area of public orders and leads administrative proceedings with them, among them Eurovia and Strabag, UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj confirmed to CTK Wednesday.

The other concerned companies are Swietelsky stavebni, K-building CB and SaM silnice a mosty. The UOHS has already seized documents in the headquarters of the companies concerned.

Both Eurovia and Strabag said in a statement provided to CTK later Wednesday that they had not breached any law.

"We are cooperating with the UOHS as much as we can. We have made available all documents demanded by its employees. We are nevertheless convinced we did not make any mistakes in this matter," Eurovia spokeswoman Petra Kucerova said.

"The UOHS's suspicion is ungrounded and we firmly believe that the results of the investigation will confirm it," Strabag spokeswoman Edita Novotna said.

The UOHS first started the proceedings with Strabag and Eurovia. It has been investigating them for several months on suspicion of potential closing of banned agreements in participation in public orders.

"The proceedings were later extended to companies Swietelsky stavebni, K-building CB and SaM silnice a mosty. Several not previously announced local checks were made during which evidence on the unallowed agreement was secured," Rafaj said without closer details.

"I do not think that we breached any legal norms. In our opinion, it was a standard cooperation in the sub-supplier system," Tomas Tvrdik of K-building CB told CTK Wednesday.

He did not say whether the UOHS investigation concerned one or more orders. The company takes part only in tenders in the Jihocesky region, he added.

If the suspicion of cartel proves to be true, the companies face fines in the order of tens of millions of crowns.

Rafaj has not specified whether the administrative proceedings concerned one or more orders.

In setting the size of a potential fine, the UOHS takes into account the period of time during which the cartel was in place and the turnover of the individual companies.

In the past, the UOHS repeatedly said that it considered cartel agreements of companies as one of the most serious breaches against economic competition.