2024-03-15 02:10:28
This content was published on March 15, 2024 – 06:01
(Keystone-ATS) The secretary general of the Neuchâtel Federation of Entrepreneurs (FNE), Jean-Claude Baudoin, says he is “outraged” by the method of the Comco which extended its investigation into suspicions of price agreements to 19 businesses. “The image damage is enormous,” he says.
The FNE is “stunned by the policy of the Comco which throws their name into pasture by simply recalling that they benefit from the presumption of innocence”, he declared on Friday in Arcinfo. “This is not correct, and it exposes these entrepreneurs to unfortunate confusion and strong criticism,” he adds.
The dimension and extent of potential faults within almost all of Neuchâtel’s civil engineering must be put into perspective, according to Jean-Claude Baudoin. “The number is impressive, but it does not mean that all these companies are guilty,” he says.
The market under investigation being local, “talking regarding a market is inevitable,” he explains. But that doesn’t mean there’s cheating. The Neuchâtel resident believes that the targeted companies can be “calm”, but that the image damage is “enormous”.
Three years of investigation
Comco announced on Thursday that it had extended its investigation into suspicions of price fixing in civil engineering in the canton of Neuchâtel to 19 companies, revealing their names. It had already opened an investigation in November once morest three of the 19 construction companies concerned.
These are suspected of having coordinated their offers and prices for several years for public and private markets. Around a hundred calls for tenders in the field of civil engineering and building, between 2013 and 2023, are potentially affected. The investigation is expected to last three years.
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