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Ireland: Watchdog finds bid rigging in cartel probe

By  |  August 15, 2016

Bid rigging, ‘car-clocking’ and selling of crashed cars were among the offences investigated, and in some cases prosecuted, by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in its first two years of work.

In its inaugural report, the commission outlines how one individual and one company in the industrial flooring sector were charged by the DPP with bid rigging offences following a commission investigation in 2015.

Isolde Goggin, chairperson, said their experience in investigating cartels showed that one of the most common forms of cartel concerns is bid rigging.

“If only 5% of procurement processes were subject to bid rigging, the extra cost to the lrish taxpayer would be in the region of €100m per year,” Ms Goggin said.

In order to detect and deter bid rigging, the commission is exploring the introduction of a screening programme for procurement processes which systematically searches for indications that bid rigging may have occurred, Ms Goggin said.

Full Content: Irish Examiner

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