That gorilla run, and are there 'bungs' in construction?

Corruption has been in the news of late after the Panorama show exposing the bung culture in the sport aired last week. It got me thinking about how rife it is in our industry. The Office of Fair Trading has certainly been making inroads into establishing just how widespread it is with the investigation it has launched into cartels operating in specific construction trades such as roofing. Is this the tip of the iceberg?

Two industry players I met yesterday certainly reckoned the kind of bung culture that the Panorama investigation attempted to expose certainly does exist to some extent in the sector. Other practices they reckoned that prevailed were contractors or lead consultants forcing subbies to work for free on smaller jobs in order to receive more significant work. And then there is the practice of 'covers' where rival contractors who are bidding for the same work tacitly agree that the winner pays for the loser's bid costs. Is that rigging the market? I'm not sure but it certainly is on the borders of collusion. A lunch earlier in the summer with a senior QS also provided an example of a particular job where he reckoned prices across the trades for the job were so out he was convinced it was down to much more than just human error.

As with the Panorama investigation, proving such a culture really exists is the really tricky part. I'm not sure the BBC show really achieved its aim of proving how rife it was in football. In the same instance I can't see the authorities really getting to grips with just how much it exists in industries such as construction. I can list a series of conversations I've had with people who reckon it's happening but we're stuck in the land of rumour and innuendo. But it certainly doesn't help that we are still in an industry so fragmented and cash-orientated - just the environment where sharp practices are most likely to prevail.

Mon 25 September

A follow-up to my shameless plug for my gorilla run late last week. I did it - 7K doesn't sound much but on a warm September's day and covered from head to foot in fur (some of which had an irritating habit of getting into my mouth) by the end it hurt. All in all a rather surreal experience - especially at the start surrounded by 500 fellow suited comrades, some who were attempting to make gorilla noises - but pretty good fun.