CASSATION COURT CONFIRMED A BID-RIGGING CARTEL AT AUCTIONS FOR MECIAL EQUIPMENT REPAIR IN SAMARA
Arbitration Court of the Volga District upheld the Ruling of the 11th Arbitration Appeal Court and dismissed a claim of “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd. and “GE Healthcare” Ltd.
In February 2017, the competition authority ascertained the facts of concluding anticompetitive agreements that resulted in maintaining auction prices. The agreements were concluded between “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd., “GE Healthcare” Ltd., “Medsymbol” Ltd., “TsEKh-Health” Ltd., Samara Regional Clinical Hospital named after Serdavin and the Ministry of the Healthcare of the Samara Region.
The Antimonopoly Service found that violations were committed at the auction, where the ordering parties were 23 medical facilities in the region. Procurement was organized by Samara Regional Clinical Hospital named after Serdavin. The original contract price for the works on maintenance and repair of expensive equipment reached more than 780 million RUB.
Four anticompetitive agreements were concluded at the auction, the purpose of which was making sure that целью “SMT” Ltd. would become the winner.
All available materials were transferred to the Investigation Department of the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation in the Samara region. Then a criminal case was opened upon the fact of competition restriction (Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
A criminal case against seven officials is now being considered by Samara District Court (Articles 178, 204 and 286 of the Criminal Code).
Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev emphasized: “Supporting the decision of the regional FAS Office by the Cassation Court is a positive evaluation of not only the outcome of the antimonopoly case but also interaction between antimonopoly and law enforcement bodies in general”.