Appeal Court confirmed a cartel on 280 auctions for procurement of goods for medical institutions
On 25 November 2016, the 17th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed the position of Udmurtia OFAS on a cartel at 280 auctions for supplying goods for medical institutions in the Udmurtia Republic.
In 2015б Udmurtia OFAS found that “Aibolit” Ltd. and a group of persons comprising: “Angro” Ltd., “Praktika” Ltd., “Soyuz” Ltd. violated Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” and issued determinations to stop the anticompetitive agreement.
The anticompetitive agreement was designed to maintain prices at electronic auctions in 2014-2015 by budgetary health care institutions in the Udmurtia Republic.
Interaction between OFAS with e-sites of “Sberbank-AST” CJSC and “EETP” Ltd. as well as the Department for Economic Security and Countering Corruption of the Ministry of Interior in the Udmurtia Republic exposed 280 e-auctions, involving bid-rigging between “Aibolit” Ltd. and a group of persons comprising: “Angro” Ltd., “Praktika” Ltd., “Soyuz” Ltd.
In the absence of other auction bidders, those companies created a veneer of competition; and price reduction at such actions was from 0.5 to 2%. When an independent market player filed its price bids, “Aibolit” Ltd. and one of economic entities – “Praktika” Ltd. or “Soyuz” Ltd. launched competition with it and the contract prices went down from 18 to 62%.
All companies are held administratively liable and imposed turnover fines, calculated from the original costs of the subject of the biddings, they took part in. The fine reached: 9,459,651.09 RUB – for “Praktika” Ltd., 989, 923.13 RUB – “Aibolit” Ltd., 3,545,872.42 RUB – “Angro” Ltd., and 1,202,200 RUB – “Soyuz” Ltd.
The violators disagreed with the decisions and determinations on imposing fines and filed lawsuits. The Arbitration Court of the Udmurtia Republic pronounced legitimacy of the actions undertaken by the antimonopoly body.
“The cartel agreement resulted in gaining large income: more than 58 million RUB. We will push for opening a criminal case under Article 178 of the Criminal Code”, commented Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev.