The Competition Commission today referred a case of collusive tendering to the Competition Tribunal regarding the construction of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup stadia against majors WBHO Construction, Group Five Construction, Murray & Roberts (M&R), Stefanutti Stocks Holdings and Basil Read.

The commission said in a statement on Wednesday that all these firms, except M&R, which was granted leniency, did not settle this case under the earlier Construction Fast Track Settlement Process.

“The commission’s investigations found that these firms colluded when bidding for tenders for the construction of [the] 2010 FIFA World Cup stadia by, among others, allocating tenders among themselves and agreeing on profit margins to be achieved from these tenders,” it said in a statement.

The tribunal would now set a date for the case to be heard, where the commission would lead evidence on the matter. In the referral, the commission had asked the tribunal to confirm that the above firms have contravened the Act, and to impose a maximum administrative penalty of 10% of their respective turnover.

Responding to the announcement, M&R confirmed in a statement that it was the corporate leniency applicant and was confined by certain confidentiality obligations to the commission.

It was also not required at this stage to “settle” the matter with the commission.

The company added that the referral was not related to any new cases of alleged collusion, but referred to the historical cases, as previously disclosed to the commission.

“M&R will continue to cooperate with the commission and, accordingly, expects no penalty in relation to matters relating to the [2010] FIFA World Cup stadia,” it noted, adding that it rejected any form of anticompetitive behaviour.

Group Five, meanwhile, said this development had been anticipated for a while and that the group welcomed the opportunity to "fully address" the issues surrounding its involvement in the World Cup construction projects, in light of the formal referral process.

"Group Five has engaged in lengthy discussions with the commission, thus far, regarding its involvement in the World Cup and having not reached consensus on the allegations made against Group Five, the company informed the commission that it has elected to assess its position upon review of  the commission’s referral to the Competition Tribunal. Group Five now looks forward to addressing and clarifying this long outstanding issue in order to bring certainty to shareholders, employees and all other stakeholders," it said in a statement.

The Construction Fast Track Settlement Process settlement process was launched in February 2011 and completed in July 2013, resulting in 15 consent agreements and a collective administrative penalty of R1.47-billion, paid by the participating firms.

The State reportedly lost billions of rands through large-scale collusion and price-fixing by private-sector companies during several past infrastructure projects.