• President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny, has charged seven entrepreneurs with entering into bid rigging.
• They might have unlawfully obtained contracts for the construction or modification of elements of the power grid infrastructure.

The objections of President of UOKiK concern the practices of participants in 11 tenders organised in 2017 by the PGE Dystrybucja company. Entrepreneurs could share individual tender procedures with each other, each time before the start of the electronic auction, which of them would win. Other participants in the auction would only submit apparent bids in order to give the impression of competition in the tender.

10 of the tenders in connection with which bid rigging could have been concluded concerned the construction of radio-controlled switchgear points and one – a comprehensive reconstruction of the power grid which is in conflict with the construction of S17 expressway near Garwolin.

- Agreeing among themselves offers in tenders and determining which entrepreneur will win is a violation of the law. That is why I have initiated proceedings against seven entities that could not have obtained public contracts in an unauthorised way. Their total value amounted to nearly PLN 9 million. Involvement in a competition restricting agreement is punishable by a fine of up to 10 percent of the entrepreneur’s annual turnover. It is also worth emphasising that this case is the result of cooperation between UOKiK and law enforcement authorities” - says President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

The proceedings are being conducted with respect to the following entrepreneurs: EnergoTech from Lublin, ZPUE from Włoszczowa, Przedsiębiorstwo Techniczno-Usługowe Elektra from Lublin, Ekto from Zaścianki, Elmo from Żelków – Kolonia, Przedsiębiorstwo Wielobranżowe “Farad” from Józefów, and Przedsiębiorstwo Handlowo-Usługowe “Kurpiewski” from Łomża.

We would like to remind you that UOKiK conducts a programme for obtaining information from anonymous whistleblowers. Visit https://konkurencja.uokik.gov.pl/sygnalista/ and use a simple form. The system we use guarantees full anonymity, which includes anonymity from UOKiK itself.

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