OFT will use undercover operations against construction cartels

OFT will use undercover operations against construction cartels

	Published : Mon, 30 Jan 2006 12:00 By : Andrew Stead Print this Story

LONDON: Organisers of the 2012 London Olympics are charting out plans, including effective surveillance to thwart construction firms from using illegal methods to win the 3-billion-pound worth of contracts to create the infrastructure to stage the event. Officials of the Games project are going to request the Office of Fair Trading to use undercover methods, including paid secret agents, to stop construction work falling into hands of cartels.

The OFT had recently carried out investigations, which revealed that construction firms pay each other amounts of up to 50,000 pounds to lose a contract. It suspects that some 1,000 construction contracts worth up to 500 million pounds are won through collusion.

Ray Payne, head of procurement for the Games, said he would formally ask the OFT to help to prevent price-fixing, using subterfuge, if needed.

The OFT is now equipped with new powers to break into, bug and eavesdrop homes and hotel rooms, track vehicles and follow suspects. It had powers, granted under a statutory instrument in 2003 to work with intelligence agencies and carry out undercover operations to ensure the country's “economic wellbeing”.

Simon Williams, director of cartel investigations, has sought help from employees in the construction industry by becoming undercover agents and offer information. Such operators could be paid and their identities protected, he said.

Williams confirmed that the OFT will use the powers vested in it to foil illegal activities.

The investigation into the construction industry began following a tip-off from a health trust, which complained about irregularities in a contract awarded for work at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

The OFT decided to investigate the 341-million-pound flat roofing industry in the country and its first breakthrough came with a tip from Canadian-owned Briggs, which suspected some of its staff were involved in such deals. The company approached the OFT for a leniency deal and it told the regulator everything it knew about the dealings in the industry.