The Office of Fair Trading said this week that it had spent approximately 拢3m on its inquiry into tender malpractice by contractors

In response to a freedom of information request submitted by 黑洞社区, the OFT said it did not know how much it had spent on the inquiry, which last month fined 103 firms 拢131m for infringing competition law. It added it would be too expensive to determine the exact cost.

However, it said it could estimate the cost of the investigation as 拢3m, based on a proportional split of the body鈥檚 cartels and criminal enforcement division over the period of the investigation, 2004-09.

A source close to the investigation said that figure seemed 鈥渧ery much on the low side. It looked more like 拢5m-6m from where we were鈥�.