Slovak authority fines four companies for cartel in SEPS works tender

Bratislava, 12 March (CTK correspondent) – Slovakia’s Antimonopoly Office (PMÚ) imposed fines totaling almost 7.17 million euros (182 million Kč) on four companies for a cartel agreement in a tender run by SEPS, the operator of Slovakia’s electricity transmission system. It also banned three of them from participating in tenders for three years. The office, whose ruling in the case is now final, informed CTK of this today. The companies penalized include Czech company Klement, which received the lowest penalty thanks to its cooperation with PMÚ in the case, and Slovak company Alter Energo, now indirectly controlled by Czech businessman Miloslav Vyhnal.

A request to review SEPS’s tender for the supply of construction and installation work was filed in 2017 by the NGO Stop Corruption Foundation. PMÚ investigated a total of six companies in the case. It found that four of them had coordinated their conduct in preparing and submitting bids in the public tender.

PMÚ imposed its largest fine, around 4.4 million euros (111.4 million Kč), on SPIE Elektrovod, formerly known as SAG Elektrovod, which became part of the international SPIE Group seven years ago.

Alter Energo was fined 1.79 million euros (45.3 million Kč). The company was taken over two years ago by Prague-based Pactio opportunites. According to the Slovak register, Vyhnal is Alter Energo’s ultimate beneficial owner.

Slovak company LiV Elektra was also fined and banned from participating in tenders.

PMÚ’s appeals council amended the first-instance ruling against Czech company Klement, finding that its cooperation with the office was sufficient to prove the existence of a cartel agreement in the case. Klement thus got off with a reduced fine of 159.700 euros (four million korunas).

PMÚ discontinued proceedings against the other two companies in the case because, in its view, it had not been proven that they violated the provisions of the Competition Protection Act.