A Tory donor’s firm has been named as part of a £150million corruption plot.
Keltbray was among 10 demolition outfits in an illegal cartel rigging tender bids for work on 19 building sites.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s probe is likely to result in fines running into tens of millions of pounds among the 10 firms.
Keltbray chairman Brendan Kerr was invited to a Tory fundraising dinner with Boris Johnson in 2009.
His firm has given nearly £280,000 to the Tories since 2008. The most recent sum was £20,000 last year.
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Michael Grenfell, the CMA’s executive director for enforcement, said: “The construction sector is hugely important to Britain’s economic wellbeing.
“Bid rigging can result in worse deals, leaving businesses, and sometimes taxpayers, out of pocket.”
The CMA launched its probe in 2019. Eight firms, including Keltbray, have already admitted their role.
But Keltbray is not among the seven “losing” firms caught receiving secret payments – one more than £500,000 – from the winning bidder.
Announcing its findings against all the firms, the CMA said: “These bids were rigged with the deliberate intention of deceiving the customer that they were competitive.”
Tenders involved included work at the new Met Police training college in Hendon, North London, the former Bow Street Police Station, Selfridges and Oxford University.
The 19 rigged tenders were worth a total of £150m. Keltbray has set aside £6m towards a possible fine.
We have previously revealed links between Keltbray and London crime boss David Hunt.
The firm still has ties with Hunt’s associate Edward Barham, 70, who got 10 years in 1994 for financing a £1.25million cannabis plot. He owns a 16% stake in Keltbray subsidiary Keltbray Environmental, according to latest Companies House documents.
A firm spokesman said: “Keltbray strongly condemns anticompetitive practices and, acknowledges the findings relating to isolated activities of a previous management team in a subsidiary business.
"Since 2019 Keltbray has transformed its organisational structure and corporate governance framework and has assured all stakeholders these historic practices will not occur again."
Keltbray did not benefit from being awarded any of the contracts investigated
