Five fines upon a monopolist
On 26 October, the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania imposed five fines upon “Sevkavkazenegro” JSC, totalling 2,812,500 RUB. The penalty is imposed for abusing dominance.
In April 2015, “Sevkavkazenegro” JSC initiated complete termination of power supply to water intakes in a number of settlements in the Ardonsky District, the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania. Following a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Ardonsky District, OFAS opened a case upon the fact of switching off water intake in Michurino village. OFAS found that the provider of last resort violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.
After a prolonged judicial appeal by “Sevkavkazenegro” JSC of a decision of the antimonopoly body, in the course of which Courts of three Instances recognized the correctness of the classification given by the antimonopoly body, the issue of administrative punishment for the violator is also resolved.
On the same day OFAS investigated five cases on administrative violations upon the same facts against an official of “Sevkavkazenegro” JSC that signed up applications for a grid company for switching off power supply to water intake. The total fines imposed upon the official reached “only” 75,000 RUB.
An OFAS press-release emphasized: “Perhaps, understanding the inevitability of administrative punishment, neither “Sevkavkazenegro” JSC, nor the company’s top executive did not appear at the hearing of administrative cases”.