Hong Kong’s competition watchdog takes IT firm to court over bid for Ocean Park contract

Hong Kong’s antitrust watchdog has accused an IT company and its director of colluding with another business when bidding for a project at Ocean Park.

The Competition Commission said on Wednesday it had started legal proceedings against Quantr and its director Peter Cheung Man-kit, and has accused the firm and its co-bidder, which it did not name, of exchanging sensitive information related to their intended quotations to coordinate who would win the contract for IT software services for the theme park.

It said the case was discovered after the co-bidder came forward and asked the commission for leniency. The commission agreed to not take action against the co-bidder or its employees in exchange for their cooperation with the investigation.

“These are the commission’s first enforcement proceedings resulting from a successful leniency application, which is an important enforcement milestone,” Brent Snyder, the commission’s CEO, said in a statement.

The case was the fifth filed by the watchdog at the Competition Tribunal since antitrust regulations came into effect in December 2015. Last year, it won its first two cases.