Brazil: Andrade Gutiérrez & UTC to pay $61.5 million in CADE settlement

Brazilian construction giants Andrade Gutiérrez and UTC have each signed separate Decrees of Consent with the country’s competition regulator, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), whereby the companies admit having participated in a cartel now under investigation as part of the wide-reaching “car wash” case, which targeted price-fixing and bid-rigging bribes between companies and state-owned enterprises. The settlement with CADE involves payment of a R$195 .16 million fine ($61.5 million USD), as well as continued cooperation on the company’s behalf.

The companies’ settlement concerns their involvement within an alleged cartel operating to manipulate contract bids for the state’s oil company, Petrobras, in the engineering, construction and industrial assembly services sectors. The companies are also involved in a separate case of collusion, accused of conspiring to manipulate the bid-granting contest for the Angra 3 power plant.

Andrade Gutiérrez has fully admitted its involvement in the aforementioned cartel, with the company willing to cooperate fully with the authorities in order to reduce the fines and other penalties it may incur. UTC, slower to approach the agency, will pay the lions share of the fine, at R$139.1 million , being the largest amount ever charged by CADE to one single company.

Full Content: Brasil 24/7

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