FIRE EXTINGUISHING CARTEL IN LENIN MINE

Exposed by Novosibirsk OFAS and Rosfinmonitoring

Novosibirsk OFAS found that “Shakhtastroi” Ltd., “Sibstroiinvest” Ltd. and “Transportnik” Ltd. are guilty of concluding a bid-rigging cartel agreement at an auction for corrected design and working documentation for the following object: “Fire-extinguishing on inactive pit damp of “Rostovugol” OJSC (Lenin mine)” (Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”).

Antimonopoly body established that the bidders - “Shakhtastroi” Ltd., “Sibstroiinvest” Ltd. and “Transportnik” Ltd. had economic relations in the form of mutual settlements and interest-free loans.

Also, the winner concluded work contracts with one of the bidders – a potential competitor.

All tenders took place with the minimum reduction of the initial contract price.

According to the estimate of the Commission of Novosibirsk OFAS, the overall income of cartel members as a result of winning the auction and concluding government contracts reached over 1.5 billion RUB.

For instance, “Shakhtastroi” Ltd. concluded 4 government contracts for 1,127,417 679.64 RUB, “Transportnik” Ltd. - 2 government contracts for 402,657,559.56 RUB.

The Commission of Novosibirsk OFAS found elements of violations under Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the respondents’ actions and transferred materials to the law enforcement bodies.

Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department Andrey Tenishev pointed out: “Interacting with Rosfinmonitoring [Federal Financial Monitoring Service] highly increased the possibilities of exposing cartels. With information about account activity we can easily identify cartel members who perform transact between themselves, and prove their guilt”.