Brazil points finger in tender inquiry

Brazilian antitrust authority Cade has recommended that a court convict 16 companies and 52 individuals over allegations that they were involved in forming a cartel to fix bids for public train contracts across central and southern Brazil.

Cade said in a statement on Wednesday that the companies, which include units of Mitsui & Co, Bombardier and Alstom, could pay up to 20% of gross revenue if convicted. Individuals could pay fines of 50,000 to 2billion reais ($13,000- $514m).

When it launched the probe in 2014, Cade had said the cartel allegedly began in 1998 and its members had divided up tenders between themselves and “pretended there was competition, but had agreed previously on the prices of their bids”.

The antitrust authority said the scheme included bids for metro and commuter trains in Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte.

Cade’s conclusions add to a list of corruption accusations that Brazilian authorities levelled against firms in a range of industries in recent years, leading to the downfall of many powerful executives and politicians.

“The evidence collected throughout the investigation allows us to conclude that the companies and their employees interfered with the results of at least 27 projects,” Cade said.

Among other companies involved are local units of Balfour Beatty, Construccion y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles and Hyundai-Rotem.

A representative for Alstom said the company would review Cade’s report and take the “appropriate legal measures”, and it was committed to ethical business principles.

Representatives of Bombardier, Hyundai, CAF and Balfour Beatty did not respond at once to requests for comment.

Bombardier Transportation Brazil said in 2014 it believed the firm and its employees complied with the law and the firm’s code of ethics. It said it would co-operate with the probe.

As part of the investigation, Cade signed a plea bargain with Siemens. The company reported its alleged involvement in the price-fixing scheme to authorities in 2013 to lessen its responsibility.