OFT accuses construction firms over bid-rigging

Government agencies and local authorities are clients who may have overpaid on billions of pounds of building contracts, the Office of Fair Trading has warned, as it accused 112 construction companies of 'Bid rigging'.

Following a three-year investigation, the companies have been accused of forming cartels with rivals to bid an inflated price for work on schools, hospitals and other projects to make sure they do not win.

The list of companies accused of bid-rigging include Balfour Beatty, the UK's biggest construction company and builder of the 2012 Olympic aquatics centre in London, and Carillion, the second biggest company.