The regional court in Brno has cancelled fines worth CZK 300 million levied on a cartel of construction companies and returned the case to the Antimonoply Board, according to Hospodářské noviny. The companies that had been hit with the fines were Hochtief, OHL ZS and Strabag, the same companies that already had fines worth CZK 1.66bn lifted (by the same court). The judge in the case said that while companies cannot profit from monpolistic practices, they need to be punished within the standard procedures and that this had not happened in the current case. The antimonopoly board produced evidence that a total of 12 companies had conspired to coordinate their bids and proved its case using emails it seized in surprise raids. Swietelsky stavebni was hit with the largest fine CZK 76m while Hochtief had been told to shell out CZK 65.3m until the ruling was overturned.
