MOSCOW OFAS EXPOSED A CARTEL OF 4 SUPPLIERS OF MEDICAL CENTRES FOR 59.6 MILLION RUB

Moscow OFAS exposed a cartel formed by “Pharmchim” Ltd., “Medpharmchim” Ltd., “Medtekh” Ltd. and “Chimpharm” Ltd. at 8 auctions for supplying reagents and expendable materials for the total initial maximum contract price – 59.6 million RUB.

The auctions were announced by the National Medical research centre of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatal Medicine named after academician Kulakov and the Radiology National Medical Research Centre.

Based on the auction results, “Medpharmchim” concluded two contracts for the total amount 24.4 million RUB. “Medtekh” Ltd. and “Chimpharm” Ltd. signed three contracts each – for the total amount 16 and 17 million RUB accordingly. “Medpharmchim” Ltd. would not be able to win any auction without teaming up with “Pharmchim” Ltd.

Moscow OFAS established that companies acted in the interests of each other at the auctions, exchanged information, filed auction bids with identical technical characteristics on the same day within one hour.

OFAS found that “Pharmchim” Ltd., “Medpharmchim” Ltd., “Medtekh” Ltd. and “Chimpharm” Ltd. violated Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. Part 2 Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations specifies liability for anticompetitive agreements: an administrative fine for up to 50% of the initial auction price for legal entities and up to 50,000 RUB for companies’ top executives.