UK: UK disqualifies two construction directors for collusion

The CMA has secured the disqualification of 2 former directors of CPM Group Ltd following CPM’s admission that it breached competition law.

The move follows the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) statement of objections issued on 13 December 2018, alleging that 3 suppliers of pre-cast concrete drainage products – CPM Group, (CPM), Stanton Bonna, and FP McCann, breached competition law by taking part in a secret cartel for almost 7 years from 2006. The CMA has provisionally found that the cartel aimed to fix or coordinate prices and share out the market for certain pre-cast concrete drainage products in Great Britain.

As part of a settlement process, Somerset-based CPM and Derbyshire-based Stanton Bonna admitted to participating in the alleged cartel and have agreed to pay fines, which will be determined at the end of the CMA’s investigation. The CMA’s investigation into a third company which has not entered into settlement, FP McCann, continues and no assumption should be made that it has infringed the law.