Between 1988 and 2004 ABB, Alstom, Areva, Fuji, Hitatchi Japan AE Power Systems, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Schneider, Siemens, Toshiba and VA Tech rigged bids on procurement contracts, fixed prices, allocated projects to each other, shared markets and exchanged commercially important and confidential information. On 24 January 2007, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined the companies a total of €750,712,500 for participating in a cartel for gas-insulated switchgear projects, making it the largest set of fines ever imposed on a single cartel. ABB received full immunity from fines under the Commission’s leniency programme