The court rejected the lawsuit of the company Strabag, it was related to the cartel

Brno - The Regional Court in Brno rejected the lawsuit of the construction company Strabag. The company unsuccessfully defended itself in court against a completed investigation by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) regarding a cartel. It claimed that it was an illegal intervention, said court spokesperson Simona Tesařová today. The company has not yet received the judgment. Ultimately, Strabag was fined by ÚOHS in two administrative proceedings, totaling hundreds of millions.

The Antimonopoly Office began investigating Strabag in mid-2012 along with Eurovia. Gradually, the cartel investigation expanded to more contracts and companies. Ultimately, ÚOHS had to split the case into three administrative proceedings, with Strabag involved in two of them. The company defended itself against the investigation in court.

According to Tesařová, Strabag perceived illegal intervention in the procedural actions of ÚOHS. The company argued that ÚOHS acted outside the framework of the Administrative Procedure Code, claiming that no administrative proceedings had ever been initiated. The court disagreed and rejected the lawsuit. According to ÚOHS spokesperson Martin Švanda, some other companies involved in the cartel also perceive illegal intervention in the procedures of ÚOHS.

Meanwhile, ÚOHS concluded the main part of its investigation, stating that the companies coordinated their participation in tenders for construction works in South Bohemia. It initially imposed fines of over two billion crowns, and then the chairman of ÚOHS, Petr Rafaj, subsequently reduced the penalties to 1.66 billion crowns. Strabag was supposed to pay almost half a billion. According to the office, the company was also involved in another cartel, which resulted in fines totaling 278 million crowns. Among the fined companies are, among others, Colas and the Brno-based OHL ŽS. So far, Strabag has not appealed against the fine. "The deadline for filing an appeal has not yet passed, and we are still considering filing one," said the company's spokesperson Edita Novotná today.

The so-called big construction cartel will again be addressed by the Regional Court in Brno. All companies that received fines have turned to it with lawsuits. The court has so far only dealt with some procedural questions. Companies have requested, for example, a suspensive effect on the payment of fines. For instance, the court did not grant this to Strabag and Eurovia.