EU investigates possible cartel practices

Greek and European authorities are investigating the possible extensive rigging of tenders in digital upgrading projects, mainly of the state, which are financed by the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

Ten companies are on the radar of the competent authorities, of which five are active in the IT sector, three telecommunications providers and two consultancies, with checks possibly involving an illegal horizontal partnership – commonly known as a “cartel” – to share tenders with pre-arrangements regarding the amount of offers.

On March 27 the Hellenic Competition Commission said it had carried out surprise checks on a large number of companies active in the IT and technology sectors as part of an ex officio investigation into possible horizontal collusion in falsifying public tenders (bid rigging). The companies that were audited are the following: Byte, Uni Systems, Netcompany-Intrasoft, Space Hellas, Cosmos Business Systems, Cosmote, Vodafone, Nova and the consultancy companies Toolbox and Active.

According to a report by Politico magazine on Thursday, confirmed to Kathimerini by sources with knowledge of the matter, the case is being investigated not only by the Hellenic Competition Commission, but also by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, following a request sent to it by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Competent sources estimate that the scrutiny by both the Competition Commission and the EU agencies does not endanger the implementation of the projects, pointing out that any decisions resulting from the investigations will be issued after at least two years.

This is not the only field regarding the financing from the RRF with the whiff of a scandal: A few weeks ago, state asset fund TAIPED’s appointed adviser Panos Stamboulidis had publicly denounced suspicious practices in tenders concerning the upgrading of the country’s hospitals, amounting to 9 million euros, but also the National Reforestation Plan, amounting to €55 million. In fact, at the time he had warned of appealing to the Competition Commission.

Speaking to Kathimerini, Stamboulidis pointed out that the projects he is referring to are technical and of lesser value than those for which the 10 companies are being audited, and emphasized that after the statements he made publicly, these phenomena stopped.