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Lord Sugar was ripped off by dodgy builders as he redeveloped a fashion market in the heart of London, it emerged today.
His property firm Amsprop was duped during the £2.9 million refurbishment of the Dover Street Market in Mayfair.
Private schools Bedales in Hampshire and Sydenham High in south-east London also fell victim to a shocking price-fixing scam along with Uxbridge College in Middlesex.
And the City of London Corporation fell foul over the redevelopment of shops and flats on South Molton Street in the West End.
The extraodinary list of victims — which also included a police station, a prison and the Salvation Army — was made public today by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after a five-year investigation into the construction industry.
The OFT issued penalties to 103 companies worth a total of £129.5 million after an investigation into bid-rigging in England, but warned that the practice had been "endemic" in the industry.
It said companies colluded with competitors on building contracts and this meant customers were at risk of being overcharged.
The biggest fine - £17.9 million - went to Kier Group, while Balfour Beatty was fined a total of £5.2 million relating to the actions of its subsidiary Mansell. Carillion has been asked to pay £5.4 million due to contracts tendered by Mowlem, which it bought in 2006.
Lord Sugar, who is not currently actively involved in the day-to-day running of Amsprop, said: “The contract for the building in question was awarded six years ago, in a booming market where it was hard to get contractors to come to the table, let alone negotiate.
“I am very impressed and encouraged that the OFT have done such a thorough job and have delved back so far. The management at Amsprop will now look into what compensation may be due to us from the contractor or advisors used at the time.
“I am grateful that the OFT have cleaned up this illegal conduct.”
Other contracts involved in the investigation included public authority work on schools and hospitals, as well as private tenders for apartment blocks.
The OFT said most of the offences involved so-called cover pricing, where one or more bidders arranges for competitors to put down high bids. These bids are not to win the contract but are submitted as genuine and give a misleading impression to clients about the level of competition.
Firms were fined an average of £1.26 million, or 1.14% of global turnover, although this was substantially less than the maximum 10% fine available to the OFT.
The fines relate to 199 tenders between 2000 and 2006 but the OFT warned that its investigation suggested "that cover pricing was a widespread and endemic practice in the construction industry".
The investigation was sparked in 2004 by a complaint from an NHS auditor in Nottingham, but it quickly spread as the watchdog realised the scale of the problem.
It uncovered evidence of cover pricing in more than 4,000 tenders involving more than 1,000 companies but said it had to focus on the companies and instances where the cases were strongest.
Reader views (9)
"Amstrad" - need I say more?
- Rogan, Irving
Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow.
- Des Egan, london. UK
Just shows how big business go about day to day business............... Shame on them..........
- Neil, UK
Another unacceptable face of Capitalism however, I would think that Sugar has made enough money up to now to retire gracefully and stop chasing more money.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK
At last something to make me laugh. Bet they were no more dodgy than his Amstrad junk!
- Mike, London England and once GREAT Britain
Dodgy deal? Isn't this the guy who made a fortune out of selling garbage computers? What goes around, comes around it seems.
- Rogan, Irving
You're a ganef, Sir Alumpo Sugar, I can't stand nebbishes - you're fired!
- Board Of Apprentices, Hammersmith
Just whose pocket will these fines disappear into? They certainly won't be used to reduce the massive overspend by this useless and dying regime.
- Minority Working Person, London/England
What a shame.
- Tony Shtouder, Boynton beach Florida
