CASSATION SUPPORTED DECISION OF VORONEZH OFAS REGARDING CARTEL FOR 966 MILLION RUB

The anticompetitive agreement restricted competition at the auction

In 2020 the Voronezh Regional office of FAS Russia found Ixtelcom, Komstroy, SCS PROM, CROSS, Centtelekomstroy, Svyazinform and Stroysvyazmontazh. guilty of violating antimonopoly legislation*.

FAS Russia based on the materials of the Office of the Federal Security Bureau in the Voronezh Region found that the companies entered into a cartel agreement at the auction for the construction of communication lines for the needs of Rostelecom PJSC. The bidding was held in the Voronezh Region as part of the implementation of the federal project "Information Infrastructure" of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation". The initial (maximum) contract price was 966,540,777 rubles.

During the bidding, the companies maintained prices and increased the cost of the work performed. In addition, the organizations agreed in advance on the distribution of the winners among themselves according to the conducted auctions. As a result, the bidding procedures were carried out with a minimal reduction in contract prices.

On the fact of violation of the antimonopoly legislation, the companies were brought to administrative responsibility** in the form of fines totaling 18,511,870 rubles. Also, based on the materials of the antimonopoly case, law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case under Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The participants of the collusion appealed the decision of the authority, but all three judicial instances, including the Arbitration Court of the Central District, supported the position of the Voronezh OFAS.

* Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition

**Part 2 of Article 14.32 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation