Local Authorities involved in corrupt activities? I would suggest that all local authorities be investigated over all aspects of contracts and bidding and that additional investigations are made into planning permissions and planning consents.

Rodney Barker, Gainsborough, England UK

I'm with you Pete from St Albans, you've only got to read 'Rotten Boroughs' in Private Eye to realise just how appalling these instruments of Government are.

martin, reading, uk

One article said building firms profit margins for these large projects are typically low at around 3-5%... these figures differ with that. I wonder which is right.

This article details a situation where council A asks for tenders on a project but only one or two come back, they then ask a couple of companies to issue over the top bids... reason because otherwise the project could not have gone ahead becasue they didn't generate enough competitive bidding.... that sounds feasable... it also sounds like a pragmatic way of getting through the red tape in such a situation... it doesn't mean the price would have been less if they had not asked for a couple of overbids.... Will the council as insitigators get fined in these cases.

Where there is genuine collusion there should be fines, but the level needs to apportionate to the profit/loss made, and equally the OFT needs to deal sensitively with cases where councils have instigated cover pricing to get a job underway.

abharrisson, london,

what, corruption in Local Councils, never, and i thought all along these people in council were here to serve us, the taxpayer that us....

...i think if you look deep enough you will find that the whole system is corrupt from top to bottom....

C. Kroustis, London, UK

you were always alright if you had the right hand shake! My father worked in the council all has life and saw the way people got tenders, it was always a case of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours, one person in the council got his house nearly rebuild by a grateful builder my father got offered favours and use to laugh because he never picked anyone who would not have got the job anyway!!!! He always said they didnot have enough to make him a crook. But most could not resist the 30 pieces of silver

June Hart, Hockley, UK

where are the professionals in all this,and their governing bodies?
david little

david little, bridgend,

There is nothing more corrupt than local government!

Pete, St Albans, England

Does it mean that if the building contract is 'Overpriced' the subsequent PFI contract (God knows for how many lifetimes) is subsequently inflated in price<

Nigel Ashurst, Leicester, England

I seem to recall in the 1960s a person named John Pollson going to prison along with Dan Smith M.P. for corruption concerning government contracts, many others were involved, nothing has changed. It is no different to drug dealing the rewards are so great it is worth the risk.

Bill, Middlesbrough

Bill Hawthorne, Middlesbrough, Cleveland

This must be a case for Yates of the Yard not Umbungo of a quango.
Why are the police not investigating?
Does anyone know of any other criminal investigation where the investigator sends the accused their initial evidence and basically 'plea bargains'
£4 billion pound is a huge chunk of council tax which me and every other tax payer has been defrauded of.

Rob, derby, uk

It is common practice for public sector sponsors to need a minimum number of tenders to satisfy value for money criteria. Since Lord Egan's report encouraged collaborative working and hands on management of the supply chain, building contractors have been less willing to provide resources to one off clients when partnership arrangements result in lowered costs for both the builder and the client. Public sector clients are in a quandary for one off projects and can find it difficult to fill tender lists with sufficient willing tenderers who meet competence and capacity tests.
Something has to give. Whilst collusion is a real crime, competent public clients are usually happy if there are two genuine competitive tenders returned at the end of the bidding process. In complex markets this is very difficult (e.g. combined construction and services PFI bids) and the OGC has issued specific guidance to ensure value for money is obtained at regular intervals in 25 year contracts.

Rusty, London, UK

I like the sound of this Australian Commission Against Corruption. Can we have one? (Properly resourced & financed of course - not set up to fail from day one as per usual).

Oscar, Edinburgh, UK

The world goes round...

Nnuts - Ecclesiastes 1:9 - Nothing new under the sun.

Robert Tressells book ' The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist ' of the early 1900 describes the building trade of a hundred year ago.

There are a few winners and many losers - nothing changes

j o'bacon, elmstead, uk

We can get a pensioner, protesting about Council tax, sent off to prison quick enough , in handcuffs, but I doubt there will be the political will to see this through . Why? Because we have all seen this type of criminal behaviour surface time and time again (in the last 40 years, that I can remember), and surely before then. It would seem to be an endemic and chronic disorder of the management of Local Authority and Government spending systems. Promises of action to clean it up never come to anything it seems. Could this be because the combined powers of those implicated is simply too great? Is it not time that a Commission, independent of our present army of arrogant self interested and incompetent MPs investigated how our parliamentary democracy might be changed for the better, and the Power of the two main parties questioned?

nemo, nivillac, france

Can someone explain why the guilty companies will not be required to reimburse the taxpayer by the full estimated £4billion?

Malcolm Williamson, WGC, UK

I live in Sydney, & in NSW there is a govt body named the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and It;s sole duty is root out corruption in the public sector. It has it's own team of investigators that are separate from the police. ICAC uses all modern technology including bugging devices, hidden cameras etc to enable it to do its job. It investigates all levels of the public sector including ploice & polititions. At the moment it is heavily involved in bringing to book some members of Wollongong local council and developers. It is refreshing to see how effective this body is in unveiling corruption within NSW.

Paul Jeffery, Sydney, Australia

The law suits against these companies will of course expose those corrupt officials in public office - this will mean that after a suitable time and vast expense we will discover that there is not enough evidence to proceed.

Wills, soton, uk