As those of you involved in running a construction firm will know, it's never easy to enjoy your summer vacation untroubled by thoughts of what's going on back in the office. So imagine what the August break is like for those running the 112 companies that have been accused of breaking competition law by the Office of Fair Trading. For a fair number of them, what happens between now and early next year, when the watchdog makes its final pronouncement, will be nothing less than a matter of life and death.At present, the accused are forming a queue to give verbal evidence, knowing that the future of their firms may depend on what they say. We don't know yet what level of fines the OFT will consider appropriate. The legal maximum is 10 of global turnover, although in practice this is reserved for those operating cartels and repeat offenders, neither of which is the case here. Instead the betting among the legal fraternity is on fines of 5 for firms that have been found guilty and denied leniency.
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