The Appeal Court supported FAS in a case on aircraft procurement in Chukotka
The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed legitimacy of the FAS decision on an antimonopoly case on procurement of aircrafts in the Chukotka Autonomous District.
In November 2015, FAS found that the Department of the Chukotka Autonomous District for Industrial Policy, Construction and the Housing & Utility, “Chukotsnab” State Unitary Enterprise of the Chukotka Autonomous District, “ChukotAVIA” State-Run Enterprise of the Chukotka Autonomous District, “Vityaz” Aviation Corporation” Ltd. and “Chukotka-Leasing” Ltd. violated Article 16 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (an anticompetitive agreement involving an authority).
The respondents devised and implemented a scheme for aircraft procurement and reselling in breach of the current law on competition protection (No. 135- FZ Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”) and the Law on Procurement (No.223-FZ Federal Law) when the bidding winner and goods supplier was determined in advance and the final aircraft procurement price increased by over 300 million RUB.
Earlier, in May 2016, Moscow Arbitration Court also supported the FAS position.
“Procurement under No. 223-FZ Federal Law must aim at identifying the best bid, which, in its turn, ensures budget saving. Collusion between the ordering parties and bidders are some of the most dangerous forms of anticompetitive agreements, and, therefore, are unacceptable”, pointed out the Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Olga Franskevich.
“FAS has held respondents on the case administratively liable, imposing turnover fines. The total fines exceed 65 million RUB”, explained the Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev.