Price-fixing inquiry into flooring firms focuses on large multinational contracts

The recent decision by the Competition Authority to raid the offices of some of the biggest industrial flooring contractors in the State was an aggressive move as it searched for evidence of price-fixing following allegations by a whistleblower.

The allegations remain unproven. The authority declined to provide any details of its investigation to The Irish Times other than to confirm that it is ongoing. But sources said the inquiry was at an advanced stage.

Crean Mosaics, Aston Carpets and Carpet Centre Contracts – three large-scale commercial and industrial flooring contractors who have all won lucrative contracts for buildings housing well-known companies – were raided in April.

Floor Form Ireland, owned by a Northern Ireland company, was visited about two months later.

At the raids authority officials, with the assistance of gardaí, took away files and computers in an effort to uncover evidence such as emails.

The authority was contacted early in 2012 by a whistleblower. It received allegations about bid-rigging on contracts where the bill was being paid by some of the biggest companies in the State, such as Google.

Google's European headquarters are in Dublin's Docklands, and in 2011 a tender was issued by a main contractor for flooring and carpeting as part of a fit-out of the 15-storey Monte Vetro building. Monte Vetro was originally developed by Treasury Holdings but Google bought the building for about €90 million from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Investigation
The Monte Vetro flooring contract would have been worth in the region of €300,000. It was eventually won by Carpet Centre Contracts, a major Dublin firm. An email sent by a senior executive of this company, its director Dave Radburn, was one of the sparks for the overall price-fixing investigation by the authority.

Mr Radburn declined to comment on the email yesterday. It was sent by him in October 2011, and addressed to Brendan Smith at Aston Carpets, another large firm.

It is understood by sources that the email was central to the authority’s decision to raid Crean Mosaics, Aston Carpets and Carpet Centre Contracts. It is now reviewing scores of contracts as it investigates several other allegations.

The companies under investigation are large-scale operations.

Crean Mosaics has worked across a wide range of building projects for some of the biggest names in corporate Ireland.

In 2011 it claimed to have been delivering 500 jobs a year, name-checking a host of well known business and other premises.

Established in 1982, it currently lists Annette, Carmel and Alan Crean, as well as Brian Ruane, as its directors. It is registered at The Square, Charlestown, Co Mayo.

According to latest company accounts filed in September 2012, two Isle of Man entities, Crean International and Crean Group Overseas Ltd, are listed as shareholding entities.

Alan Crean is listed as being a director in seven other companies, including the Dublin-registered Aston Carpets.

According to a 2011 company brochure, Crean Mosaics has been involved in several high-end jobs, including work on the Wyeth Medica pharmaceutical plant in Kildare where the project was valued at €3.3 million; Eircom HQ (€2.25 million); Intel and Trinity College Dublin (both worth €1.5 million).

Other high-profile projects worth millions of euro include eBay, the O2, Shannon Airport, the Convention Centre, the Aviva Stadium and Mountjoy, Castlerea and Wheatfield prisons.

It describes itself as “Ireland’s leading force in the contract-flooring sector and is part of the Crean Group that includes Aston Carpets, a key player in Ireland’s corporate carpet market and flooring”, although the two operate independently.

It also claimed to have secured “a number of prestigious jobs” in the UK.

In Ireland it grew significantly at the height of the construction market in 2007, establishing new offices in Dublin and Munster.

It says its “management system ensures consistently high standards are maintained at all times. It also gives us greater control and flexibility.”

A significant employer, staff numbers peaked at 207 in 2008.

Alan Crean is also listed as a director of Aston Crean UK.

Aston Carpets was established in 2003 and its other directors are Brendan Smith and Brian Ruane. It is registered at the same Charlestown, Mayo, address as Crean.

Both Crean International and Crean Group Overseas are again listed as shareholders in the company’s annual returns.

Aston Carpets also lists a number of the high-specification contracts it secured over the years, including fitting out the exclusive Carton House Golf Club in Kildare (contract value: €700,000); the VIP areas of Croke Park (€185,000) and the Spencer Dock offices of Price Waterhouse Coopers (€1.5 million).

Castlebar airport
In 2000, Alan Crean was behind plans for the redevelopment of Castlebar airport into a retail and business park, agreeing to purchase the 23-acre site for IR£3.05 million.

The Connaught Telegraph reported at the time that Crean's Kelem Properties' planning application lodged with the local authority valued the overall project at £25 million.

Another of the four companies raided, Floor Form (Ireland), was established in 2001 and lists Sean Burns, Noel Prendiville, Gareth McKeown and Declan Canavan as directors. It is registered at Dunboyne Business Park in Co Meath.

Mr Burns, who founded the company in 1985, is also a director of three Northern Ireland-based companies in the same group: Floor For, Floor Form Holdings and Floor Form (UK).

The group website also lists an office in Warsaw, Poland.

It counts among its high-profile clients Bank of Ireland and several other financial institutions, Dublin Airport, the Irish Film Centre, Heuston Station, Belfast City Hall, Belfast City Airport and Quinn Direct.

Carpet Centre (Contracts), a manufacturer of carpets and rugs registered off Wexford Street in Dublin, was incorporated in 1986 and today lists its directors as Eamonn Higgins and Mark, Jean, David and Sandra Radburn.

David Radburn is also listed as a director of the company Interior Management Systems Ltd.

None of the companies under investigation would comment to The Irish Times.