IN ST. PETERSBURG A GUILTY VERDICT WAS BROUGHT IN THE CRIMINAL CASE ON CARTEL

In 2020, the St. Petersburg Regional Office of FAS revealed a cartel between Stroy Service LLC, OblSpetsTrans LLC and an individual entrepreneur at auctions for the right to conclude contracts for the maintenance and improvement of roads in St. Petersburg.* The total amount of contracts concluded amounted to more than 92 million rubles. Subsequently, the materials of the antimonopoly case were sent to law enforcement agencies.

According to this fact, the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region initiated a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under paragraph “a” of Part 2 of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.**

The preliminary investigation ended with the transfer of materials to the court. The Zelenogorsky District Court of St. Petersburg has convicted the General Director of Stroy Service LLC. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 1 year and 6 months (conditionally with a probation period of 2 years) and a fine. Other cartel members are exempt from criminal liability in connection with the admission of their guilt and assistance in the investigation.***

For reference:

 * according to paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition, agreements between competing economic entities are recognized cartels and prohibited, that is, between economic entities selling goods on the same commodity market, or between economic entities purchasing goods on the same commodity market, if such agreements lead or may lead to increase, decrease or maintain prices at auction

  ** Clause “a” of Part 2 of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability for restricting competition using one's official position by concluding a competition-limiting agreement (cartel) between business entities-competitors, prohibited in accordance with the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation, if this act caused major damage to citizens, organizations or the state or entailed the extraction of income on a large scale

  ***Note 3 to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation