Illegal price fixing in the award of construction contracts: from 2006 to 2017, 865 defendants were identified in Austria. The WkSta is still investigating 270. On Tuesday, a builder in Eisenstadt had to answer for the crime.
It was almost as if the accused builder wanted to get away from the Eisenstadt Regional Court as quickly as possible. In short words he said: “At my age, at 71, people are smarter. It was misconduct. I would strongly prevent such an approach today!”
20 suspects from Burgenland
Negotiations took place again in the “Baukartell case”, one of the largest criminal cases of the post-war period, involving illegal price fixing in procurement procedures. From 2006 to 2017, 865 suspects were identified in Austria, 20 of them from Burgenland. 270 of these are still being investigated by the Public Prosecution Service for Economic Affairs and Corruption.
This is how it worked: a large company really wants to win the order for a construction contract. This company makes an offer. And he informs the competitors, who in principle have no interest in the contract, about the amount of this offer. They give a higher one. There is financial compensation or consideration in the form of subcontracts. If the companies do not participate in the group’s game, they will no longer be invited to submit bids for future construction projects that actually interest them.
We made our own calculations
The builder from Burgenland, who managed 56 employees at the time of the crime, was accused of a total of nine anti-competitive agreements. Yes, he received the company’s offers, but made his own calculations. So he did not make any fictitious offers. “I should have reported it.”
The chief prosecutor, who considered the suspect “not a serious criminal”, called for “judicial sanctions so that something like this does not happen again.” The judge in turn ruled in favor of a diversionary maneuver: a fine of 16,880 euros.
The builder accepted it, but the prosecutor vetoed it.
Source: Krone
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