The General Superintendence of the autarchy recommended that construction companies be fined for fraud in a nuclear power plant bid
The General Superintendence of Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) suggested this Tuesday (April 25, 2023) the condemnation of 4 construction companies and 10 individuals for the practice of cartel in tenders for the Angra 3 nuclear power plant. full of the decision (442 KB).
The defendant companies in the lawsuit are: EBE (Empresa Brasileira de Engenharia), Queiroz Galvão (today Alya Construtora), Techint Engenharia and UTC Engenharia. The case now goes to judgment by Cade’s Court.
The builders are investigated for forming a consortium suspected of manipulating bids valued at R$ 3 billion. The tenders were held by Eletronuclear in 2013 and 2014 for the construction of the plant.
The companies’ suspicious practices resulted in an administrative proceeding opened by Cade in 2015. The autarchy gathered evidence through 3 TCCs (Terms of Cessation Commitment). Also in 2015, the companies confessed to the accusations and signed a leniency agreement to collaborate with the investigations.
According to Cade’s General Superintendence, “there was an exchange of competitively sensitive information with the objective of frustrating the competitive nature of the competition for the assembly of Angra 3”.
After identifying the irregularities, Eletronuclear suspended the contracts in 2017, with physical and financial executions of less than 10%.
In this Tuesday’s decision, Cade also ordered the filing of the complaints against the construction companies Andrade Gutierrez and Odebrecht, “due to compliance with the terms of the Commitment to Cessation and collaboration with the investigations of this General Superintendence, when the respective pecuniary contributions are paid.”
CADE’s Tribunal may impose fines of up to 20% of their individual revenues obtained in the field of activity in the year prior to the initiation of the process to companies. Individuals are subject to fines ranging from R$50,000 to R$2 billion.
O Power360 contacted all the companies mentioned in this article, but did not receive a response until publication.
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