The Competition Commission on Wednesday said it had initiated proceedings against a bid‑rigging syndicate, alleging it sought to corner a quarter of Hong Kong’s building maintenance market through illicit means.

The syndicate, comprising six companies and 11 individuals, participated in the tendering of building maintenance projects for at least 11 housing estates and buildings – including Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po – totalling HK$700 million, between 2022 and 2023.

The commission said the syndicate first scouted for target building maintenance projects, looking for upcoming tenders they could influence.

Within the syndicate, a contractor was pre-selected as the designated winner for a project, while the others agreed to submit “cover bids.”

The mastermind then coordinated pricing across all participants to ensure the designated contractor won the tenders.

The commission said it had reasonable cause to believe the conduct amounted to serious anti-competitive behaviour — namely bid-rigging, price-fixing, market-sharing and the exchange of competitively sensitive information — in contravention of the Competition Ordinance.

In a statement, Rasul Butt, the commission's CEO said the watchdog has been highly concerned about the issue of bid-rigging in the building maintenance market.

“Today, we have initiated proceedings against a then newly-rising bid-rigging syndicate that has been very active in the past few years," he said.

"Internal communications of the syndicate obtained during our search operations reveal their ambition to corner a quarter of Hong Kong’s building maintenance market through illicit means — clearly reflecting their high degree of scheming and greed."

The commission said some individuals allegedly committed a criminal offence by refusing to provide relevant information during its investigation.

It has referred the case to the police.


Edited by Tony Sabine