The Competition and Markets Authority has today announced that it has secured the disqualification of another demolition director involved in the unlawful conduct. Nicholas (Nick) Brown – a current director of Brown and Mason – has been disqualified for a period of seven years.
Brown admitted being personally involved in two breaches of competition law affecting contracts for demolition services with a total value of over £30 million including one relating to the Shell Building on London’s Southbank, and the other relating to the Lots Road Power Station in London.
‘Compensation payments’ with an aggregate value of £700,000 (excluding VAT) were paid to Brown and Mason by two competitors in return for Brown and Mason’s participation in the anti-competitive agreements.
Brown has admitted taking a ‘central role’ in this conduct, including by instructing staff to collect the payments by issuing invoices relating to ‘fictional services and goods’ that were not in fact ever supplied by Brown and Mason.
Brown and Mason was one of 10 UK demolition companies – each of them members of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors – found to have been involved in collusion, bid rigging and price fixing. The company was fined £2.4 million for its involvement in a scandal that resulted in fines of almost £60 million.
The CMA had previously secured the disqualification of three directors of companies involved in the unlawful conduct.
Those are David Darsey (formerly a director of Erith) for a period of five years and 10 months; Michael Cantillon (formerly a director of Cantillon) for seven years and six months and Paul Cluskey (current director of Cantillon) who was disqualified for four years and six months.
