OFT says six firms paid or received compensation payments

Six construction firms paid and received compensation payments in the bid-rigging scandal, the Office of Fair Trading has revealed.

Bowmer and Kirkland, Durkan Ltd, Herbert Baggaley Construction Ltd, Mansell, Thomas Fish and Sons Ltd, and Wildgoose Construction Ltd all paid or received money from one another.

In April 2002, Mansell, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty, received around £10,000 in compensation payment from Wildgoose.

Less than a year later, Mansell paid around £60,000 to Durkan over a project in Dover Street, London.

Meanwhile, evidence was found that Bowmer and Kirkland paid Herbert Baggaley around £10,000 for work on a site owned by the Daily Telegraph in Derby in December 2001.

Nearly all of the firms found guilty of involvement with compensation payments opted for leniency, and subsequently received lesser fines.

Only Bowmer and Kirkland, which was fined nearly £7.5m, and Durkan Ltd, fined £6.7m, did not receive leniency.