Construction cartel trial

The engineers got off lightly

The dock was packed - eight Burgenland residents had to stand trial in Eisenstadt.(Bild: THERESA PUCHEGGER)

Unfair price fixing for construction projects: The eight defendants were sentenced to fines. The loss of trade is conditionally suspended for all of them for a probationary period of three years.

Five engineers, two graduate engineers and a pensioner sat thigh to thigh in the dock at Eisenstadt Regional Court. All of them blameless! And they all knew that they had broken the law, even if only a little.

A construction manager, a partner and six managing directors of construction companies had to appear because the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) had accused them of restricting competition in 83 contract award procedures between 2012 and 2017 by colluding.

In German:

"Nobody has enriched themselves"
One company wants the contract. This group makes a bid. And it informs the competitors, who basically have no interest in it, of the amount of the bid. They submit a higher one. If they don't, they will no longer be invited to bid for future construction projects that might interest them. "Nobody has enriched themselves here," said one of the four lawyers on behalf of all the defendants.

"Construction cartel" is the umbrella term for the illegal price fixing. From 2006 to 2017, 865 defendants were identified in Austria, with 300 still under investigation by the WKStA.

"No serious criminals"
The senior public prosecutor conceded that the defendants were not serious criminals. According to Judge Birgit Falb, the men got away with "moderate sentences", which vary depending on their income - from 4800 to 28,800 to 75,000 euros. The loss of business is conditionally suspended for all of them after a probationary period of three years.