Johannesburg - The Competition Commission on Monday said two of the seve fire companies prosecuted for price fixing companies have admitted to have engaged in cartel conduct. They agreed to pay penalties and have undertaken to assist the Commission in the prosecution of the rest.
Fireco Gauteng (Fireco Gauteng) and Afrion
Property Services CC (Afrion), specialising in supplying, installing and
maintaining fire control and protection systems in South Africa and the
continent, have reached a settlement with the Commission.
In a statement, the Commission states that part of several
fire control and protection systems companies that were referred by the
Commission to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution in March this year. The
companies had fixed prices, divided markets and tendered collusively when
bidding for tenders to install fire control and protection systems in new and
existing buildings.
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Competition Commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in
their respective settlement agreements, Fireco Gauteng and Afrion have admitted
that they engaged in price fixing, market division and collusive tendering in
contravention of the Competition Act. Fireco Gauteng has agreed to pay
administrative penalty of R909 000 while Afrion has agreed to pay R327 000.
“The two companies have also agreed to cooperate with the
Commission and assist it in the prosecution of the remaining respondents which
are Belfa, Cross Fire, Fire Protection Systems, Fireco and Tshwane Fire
Sprinklers.”
The Commission’s investigation found that from at least 1996
to 2015, the companies entered into an agreement and/or engaged in a concerted
practice to fix prices, divide markets and tendered collusively in relation to
tenders to install fire control and protection systems in new and existing
buildings.
Ngwema said the fire companies concluded bilateral and
multilateral collusive agreements which were implemented by exchanging cover
quotes, sharing of bills of quantities and exchanging of prices through
telephone, faxes, emails and occasional meetings. The companies had also agreed
to ‘respect’ each other’s allocated customers by not bidding competitively for
tenders issued by those customers.
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