Illegal Price-Fixing | Bid Rigging | Submission Fraud

Damage to Consumers and Competitors

While monopolies are usually easy to identify as they emerge, allowing the Federal Cartel Office to intervene and prevent market distortion and price manipulation, illegal price agreements can generally only be uncovered through intensive research and surveillance. As a result of this type of fraud, consumers suffer from prices that are too high and do not reflect the actual market, while uninvolved competitors are exposed to an unlawful competitive disadvantage.

 

Our Leipzig detectives are also happy to help affected consumers who suspect illegal price agreements, possibly in the form of bid rigging (synonymous with tender fraud), but in practice it is primarily companies that commission us to take a closer look at the activities of competitors. Through court-admissible documentation of conspicuous price developments, research into possible business and private connections between the suspicious companies, and, in cases of strong justified interest, also undercover deployment of investigators within the companies or surveillance of managing directors and employees, it can be examined whether the actual competitors are in active exchange with one another and are therefore able to negotiate prices and offers on the market: +49 341 3549 012-0.

Tender Fraud Distinguished from Anti-Competitive Agreements

Tender fraud is a special economic-crime form of fraud in which, following a public tender, various providers of a service or goods coordinate with one another in order to create a particularly high (false) market price. In addition, such an agreement often favors a few providers while disadvantaging others or even excluding them entirely from the award process, so that no regulated competitive situation can arise in the market. Under § 263 StGB, “ordinary” fraud is punished by a fine or a prison sentence of up to 5 years. In particularly serious cases, for example involving very high amounts of damage, a large number of victims, or commercial-scale conduct, the penalty can be imprisonment from 6 months to 10 years. However, in order to secure a conviction for tender fraud, court-admissible evidence of financial loss or so-called equivalent threat to assets must be available—the Aaden Detective Agency Leipzig handles the evidence gathering.

 

In contrast to tender fraud under § 263 StGB, in the case of anti-competitive agreements in public tenders (§ 298 StGB), merely submitting a bid based on illegal agreements is already punishable. This means that damage does not necessarily have to have occurred in order for the perpetrators to be convicted. The penalty matches that of ordinary fraud, which is investigated much more frequently by our Leipzig private detectives: imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine. The law was enacted in 1997 by the legislature due to a rise in irregularities in public tenders, in order to simplify the complicated process of proving tender fraud cases through a stricter and more narrowly defined statute.

Illustrative Examples of Tender Fraud

A typical sector for the commission of tender fraud is the construction industry. Whenever a property owner wants to commission a new build, renovation, or refurbishment, they look for service providers who should, if possible, do high-quality work, but of course at the lowest possible cost. If they request estimates from several masonry companies, for example, different price offers would normally be produced from which the property owner can choose. However, if an illegal agreement had been reached beforehand, the resulting inflated offers would be difficult to distinguish from one another, and the property owner would have to accept the unpleasant fact of paying an exaggerated sum for the service. And even if some masons do not participate in this fraud, the property owner may have many similar offers and perhaps one or two much cheaper ones, which would likely seem suspicious due to the large difference. They may suspect price dumping or even that the few honest providers are up to no good. To avoid making a bad choice, they would rather commission one of the overpriced tender fraudsters. Our corporate detective agency from Leipzig recommends, in such cases, first checking the web and then asking local experts and architects about their experience with the companies involved. If you have already commissioned and perhaps even paid the suspicious company, an operation by our investigators will provide clarity.

 

However, many other sectors are also affected by tender fraud, for example the computer and IT sector in a case brought before the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. There, the masterminds had founded two shell companies: an IT company that announced a tender for database software, and a consulting provider that referred system houses to the IT company and collected a 10 percent commission for doing so. Once the contract was signed and the commission paid, the IT company cut off all contact with the system houses. The repertoire of tender fraudsters therefore includes various different methods. A sharp eye and a healthy degree of skepticism toward suspicious offers are therefore advisable; our Leipzig corporate detectives take care of everything else.

Help from Aaden Detective Agency Leipzig in Cases of Illegal Price Agreements or Tender Fraud

Have you (presumably) become a victim of illegal price agreements or tender fraud? Do you suspect that various providers are artificially driving up market prices in order to pocket more profit and thus take your money out of your pocket? In these or other cases, contact our detective agency in Leipzig to receive a free consultation on the possible course of action by our investigators and, if necessary, to arrange an assignment. No matter which methods seem most promising—undercover operations, surveillance, or research—our Leipzig detectives are flexible and experienced in using a wide variety of investigative methods.

 

You can reach us during business hours (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 19:00) at the following number: +49 341 3549 012-0.

Aaden Corporate Detective Agency Leipzig

Brünner Straße 10

D-04209 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 3549 012-0

Fax: +49 341 3549 012-9

E-Mail: info@aaden-detektive-leipzig.de

Web: https://aaden-detektive-leipzig.de/en

 

CEO: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

Register Court: Amtsgericht Köln

Registration Number: HRB 83824