OFT raids the premises of 22 construction firms

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has searched the premises of 22 construction companies in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire as part of an investigation into bid rigging between 2000 and 2005.

 

The OFT said that at this stage “no assumption” should be made that because it has conducted a search of a company’s premises that a company or any of its employees have breached competition law.

However, it could not rule out the possibility that the investigation may uncover some behaviours in breach of the criminal cartel offence under section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002.

The OFT will now carefully consider the evidence it has obtained before deciding whether any breaches have occurred.

It also reiterated the fact that the department operates a leniency policy under which companies that report anti-competitive behaviour may qualify for 100% immunity or significant reductions in fines.

Construction and the housing market are the key areas that the OFT is looking to investigate over the next five years.