FAS CONTINUES ITS EFFORTS TO DECARTELIZE FOOD PRODUCTS SUPPLIES

The Commission of Udmurtia OFAS found bid-rigging collusion in supplies of food products to schools, pres-school day-care centres and other state and municipal institutions for the total amount over 50 million RUB

Four individual entrepreneurs and “Akshan” Ltd. were found guilty.

Upon the investigation, OFAS forwarded the relevant materials to the law enforcement bodies to open a criminal case under Article 178 of the Criminal Code – “Restricting competition“.

Together with the “For Fair Procurement” project of the United People’s Front, FAS is undertaking large-scale efforts to suppress anticompetitive agreements in the field of food products supplies to schools day care centre and other social institutions. Only in the post months, 16 orders were given to FAS regional Offices to verify recorded facts, exposed by project experts and FAS staff. The total sum of the contracts concluded with signs of bid-rigging, already reaches dozens of billions Rubles.

FAS pays careful attention to support to competition on socially-important markets, including supplies of food products to schools and day-care centres. Cartelization in this field hits not only the economies of separate regions of Russia but also the least protected parts of the population”, said Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev.

One of the respondents to the case recognized concluding and implementing the anti-competitive agreement and took advantage of the leniency programme under Part 1 Notes to Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations.