The Competition Commission welcomes the Competition Appeal Court’s dismissal of the appeal by Power Construction (Pty) Ltd and Power Construction (West Cape) (Pty) Ltd, collectively referred to as the Power Construction, against a series of in limine points (legal technicalities), which include disputing the Commission’s jurisdiction and the validity of the Commission’s investigation.
Yesterday, the Competition Appeal Court 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 R45.3 Million.
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. 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 R1.5 billion. 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.
The Competition Appeal Court judgement paves the way for the prosecution of Power Construction before the Tribunal.
Issued by Competition Commission of South Africa