Fraud. Again.
A new probe by the Serious Fraud Office has once again raised the spectre of collusion that has haunted the UK construction industry for the past decade.
The UK construction and demolition sector has operated with staggering impunity for far too long. From the boardrooms of multi-billion-pound house-builders to the hotel rooms of the infamous “Pigeon Club,” the industry has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to self-regulate. The litany of fines, the disqualified directors, and the ongoing criminal probes point to a systemic addiction to collusion, cover bidding, and fraud.
For years, the sector has functioned like a shadow economy. Executives carve up the map, rig bids, and inflate prices, leaving taxpayers and honest businesses to foot the bill. From secret gatherings to the deployment of burner phones and falsified invoices, the scale of the deception is breathtaking.
And if anyone believes that this era of dishonesty ended with the spate of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) prosecutions, they are sorely mistaken.