Cartel-buster hits pair with penalty as part of investigation into collusion among contractors on public and private jobs
An estimating director and office manager at a Bedfordshire contractor have been fined a total of £25,000 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for hiding a mobile phone and documents during an inspection.
The CMA said it carried out the inspection on the M&J Group’s business premises, alongside inspections of several other businesses, under a court warrant as part of its investigation into 12 construction companies suspected of bid rigging.
The CMA is examining whether these companies illegally colluded when bidding for contracts awarded by both private and public sector bodies, including projects funded through the Department for Education’s Condition Improvement Fund.
The CMA said: “During the inspection, M&J’s estimating director, Barry Pirrie, instructed M&J’s office manager, Tracey Woods, to remove a work mobile phone and paperwork from the company’s premises to prevent the evidence from being found by CMA investigators. Mr Pirrie also falsely told CMA officers that he did not have a work mobile phone.”
It added: “The items were later on the same day brought back and handed over. However, concealing the evidence, even temporarily, risked the loss of relevant information, and wasted valuable investigative time and resource.”
The CMA said that Pirrie was fined £20,000 and Woods £5,000. M&J was fined £25,000.
The CMA added: “[The] penalties concern failures to comply with the CMA’s investigatory requirements and are separate to any findings from the competition investigation, which remains ongoing and no assumptions should be made as to whether competition law has been broken.”
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