SUPREME COURT DREW A LINE ON THE LEGITIMACY OF THE DECISION MADE BY SAMARA OFAS

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to transfer cassation appeals of “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd., “G E Healthcare” Ltd. and a former Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Samara region to the Judicial Collegium on Economic Disputes

In February 2017, Samara OFAS established the facts of anticompetitive agreements that resulted in maintaining prices at auctions. The agreements were concluded by “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd., “GE Healthcare” Ltd., “Medsymbol” Ltd., “TsEKh-Zdorovie” Ltd., Serdavin Samara Regional Clinical Hospital and the Ministry of Healthcare of the Samara region.

The above entities jointly participated in an open auction for the works on technical maintenance and repair of expensive equipment, 23 medical facilities in the region were the ordering parties. Procurement was organized by Serdavin Samara Regional Clinical Hospital. The initial contract price was 780 million RUB.

Later the legal entities were held administratively liable: “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd. was fined over 26 million RUB; “GE Healthcare” Ltd. – 100,000 RUB.

Samara District Court is also considering a criminal; case based on these facts.

There are seven accused in the case: a former Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Samara region, Head of the Medical Equipment Provision Department of the Regional Healthcare Ministry, Director of “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd. that won the auction, his Deputy and an engineer, and two staff members of “GE Healthcare” Ltd. They are charged under Part 2 Article 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (rent-seeking); Part 3 Article 30, Part 2 Article 178 of the Criminal Code (attempts to restrict competition); Part 1 Article 286 УК of the Criminal Code (abuse of office).

According to Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev, “the case against “Modern Medical Technologies” Ltd., “TsEKh-Zdorovie” Ltd. and other economic entities is a clear example of judicial support of the decisions of the antimonopoly authority. In 2018, the Courts reversed only 4.3% of the total number of the cartel decisions. To compare, in 2017 the figure was 5.7%”.