Poon company in hot water over alleged cartel

The Competition Commission has commenced another set of proceedings against a company owned by Otto Poon Lok-to, husband of former secretary for justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, for alleged price-fixing, market-sharing and bid-rigging.

The second antitrust suit faced by Poon's ATAL Building Services Engineering in the Competition Tribunal is over a suspected air-conditioning work cartel between December 2015 and June 2018.

Another air-conditioner work provider, Johnson Controls Hong Kong, its parent company and a former assistant service manager of Johnson Controls, Jimmy Lee Yui-ming, are also involved in this round of proceedings.

The first round raised by the antitrust watchdog was in June last year, with ATAL Building Services and Shun Hing Engineering Contracting being sued for a separate air-conditioning work cartel from December 2015 to December 2019.

It was last November that ATAL admitted its liability over the cartel cases and accepted cooperation terms, including paying a HK$150 million fine and covering the commission's cost of investigation and legal proceedings.

In an announcement on Hong Kong Exchanges yesterday, the firm's parent company, Analogue Holdings, said the commission has concluded its investigation into matters in both rounds of proceedings against it.

It said the potential liability of ATAL Building Services under both proceedings had been dealt with and resolved under the agreement entered into with the commission in November 2022.

"The group's business operates as usual and it continues to strive to provide quality services to its customers," it added.

The Competition Commission said it was seeking remedies before the tribunal against Johnson Controls and its former employee Lee including declarations that Johnson Controls had contravened the first conduct rule of the Competition Ordinance, and that Lee was involved in the contravention.

The commission also sought orders for pecuniary penalties to be imposed on the company and Lee, saying it believes the actions by respondents in the two rounds of proceedings "directly or indirectly impacted the sales of over HK$3 billion worth of air-conditioning work in Hong Kong."

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com