Building cartel firms may be shut out
The Council of State is due to decide whether the construction companies found to have formed a “contractors’ cartel” by the Competition Commission can continue to bid for and execute state contracts.
The case will be coming to the country’s constitutional court in the next few weeks in the context of a tender for the road project of Aktio-Amvrakia. The provisional winning bidder for that project is the consortium of Aktor with Terna, both of which were found to have participated in the cartel and entered the Competition Commission’s settlement procedure.
Kathimerini understands that Italy’s GD Infrastrutture, the runner-up in the Aktio-Amvrakia tender, intends to take the case to the CoS, arguing that the Greek groups should not have the right to continue bidding for and landing state projects given that they have admitted their guilt of adopting cartel practices.
The Italian company, represented in Greece by Michaniki, which was not involved in the market distortion practices, notes that the competition watchdog’s decision on the settlement process should not exculpate the guilty firms.
