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Power Construction faces prosecution as appeal fails

Cape Town - The Competition Appeal Court has dismissed an appeal by Power Construction, which now paves the way for prosecution before the Tribunal relating to collusion.

The Competition Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld the Competition Tribunal’s August 2006 decision that the Commission’s initiation had met all requirements for a valid initiation and therefore had jurisdiction to investigate the collusion.

The Commission had referred a case of bid rigging and collusive tendering against Power Construction and Haw and Inglis (Pty) Ltd (Haw and Inglis) to the Tribunal in December 2014. Haw and Inglis, who had been awarded the contract after colluding with Power Construction, participated in the Construction Fast Track Settlement Process (Fast Track Settlement) and admitted liability. They paid an administrative penalty of R45.3m.
 
"This case emanated from Commission’s investigations in the construction industry in 2009 after the Commission received evidence that there was pervasive collusion in the construction sector," it said.

"Subsequently, given the magnitude of the cases, the Commission launched the Fast Track Settlement in February 2011 to expedite the resolution of these cases."   
 
Under the Fast Track Settlement, the Commission has to date reached settlement with 22 firms found liable and the Tribunal confirmed all the settlement agreements between 2013 and 2015.

The combined administrative penalties levied against these firms has totalled over R1.5bn. Following the conclusion of the Fast Track Settlement, the Commission referred, to the Tribunal, 19 cases against firms that opted not to settle, including the case against Power Construction.

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