The first six contractors appealing against bid-fixing penalties have had their total fines slashed from £41.8 million to just £4.4 million pounds. After a five-and-a-half-year investigation, the Office of fair trading fined 103 construction companies 129.5 million pounds over allegations of collusion on contract bidding between 2000 and 2006. In a ruling on Friday, the Competition Appeal Tribunal said the fines for bid-fixing were "excessive given the nature of the infringement”.

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