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- The contract is more expensive than money: FAS discovered a cartel worth 4.6 billion rubles
The contract is more expensive than money: FAS discovered a cartel worth 4.6 billion rubles
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has identified a cartel in the procurement of chemicals for water purification. The total amount of contracts exceeds 4.5 billion rubles. The customers were organizations from 23 Russian regions, including Moscow, Krasnodar Krai and Tatarstan. Cartel collusion increases the cost of purchases, narrows the range of suppliers and may increase dependence on a limited number of participants, experts warn. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Big jackpot
The Federal Antimonopoly Service has identified a cartel worth more than 4.6 billion rubles for the purchase of chemicals for water purification. This was reported by the press service of the department.
Signs of violations were found in auctions for enterprises providing water to the population and organizations of 23 Russian regions, including Moscow, Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Tatarstan.
The defendants in the case were Metachem LLC and Tradpostavka LLC. The FAS suspected them of collusion aimed at maintaining prices while bidding for the supply of coagulants and other chemicals for water purification.
"The total amount of the initial maximum contract prices previously amounted to 4,647,208,812 rubles. If found guilty, organizations will face turnover fines," the supervisory authority clarified.
Izvestia studied the cards of these companies on Rusprofile. The main OKVED code of Metachem LLC is "the activity of agents in the wholesale trade of ores and metals in primary forms." However, in accordance with additional activities, the company may be engaged in the production of other basic inorganic chemicals, the activities of agents for the wholesale of industrial and technical chemicals, fertilizers and agrochemicals, as well as wholesale of chemical products.
The company, registered in Moscow, is an active bidder on the Goszakupki portal. In total, the company acted as a supplier in 1,092 government purchases worth more than 11 billion rubles.
The company's services were used by 227 customers. The largest of them is Mosvodokanal JSC. According to open data, the organization has signed 24 contracts with Metachem for 2,387,237,616 rubles. Yekaterinburg Municipal Unitary Enterprise Vodokanal was on the second line with 16 purchases for 1,717,971,360 rubles. The top 5 also includes Nizhny Novgorod Vodokanal JSC (11 purchases for 656,430,927 rubles), Izhvodokanal (26 contracts for 449,966,302 rubles) and PJSC T Plus near Moscow (86 purchases for 375,908,588 rubles).
LLC "Tradpostavka" specializes in wholesale trade of other machines and equipment by its main type of activity. An additional code 46.12 allows the company to participate in tenders for the supply of chemicals for water purification — "activities of agents engaged in wholesale trade in fuels, ores, metals and chemicals."
The organization is less active as a supplier in public procurement — it has 23 contracts worth more than 76 million rubles on its account.
A total of 16 customers used the company's open data services. The largest of them is Ulianovskvodokonal. Tradpostavka signed one contract with him for 21,762,000 rubles. In second place in terms of volume is the previously mentioned PJSC "T Plus" — 2 purchases for 17,483,520 rubles. Azovvodokanal closes the top 5 (4 purchases for 11,300,961 rubles), the capital Construction Department of the Otradny City District Administration of the Samara Region (1 purchase for 8,832,240 rubles) and the State Unitary Enterprise Vodokanal of Kimry (1 purchase for 6,166,400 rubles).
The editorial board of Izvestia sent a request to the FAS of Russia. No response has been received at the time of publication.
Dangerous arrangements
Today, there are a large number of different types of imperfect competition, one of which is the cartel, says Igor Kim, a lawyer and member of the expert council under the Commissioner for Human Rights.
— A cartel is formed by an agreement between companies on joint actions in the market, in order to control the volume of production and sales of goods, and most importantly, the price level, — he explains.
Cartels in public procurement are one of the most common problems in Russia, says Evgeny Lando, CEO of Contract Systems. Every year, the FAS identifies hundreds of cases.
"Collusion is most often found in construction, medicine, housing and communal services and the supply of unique components," the expert notes.
Since the beginning of this year, the FAS has identified cartels in all regions of the country, bringing 158 cases of anticompetitive agreements and coordination of economic activities. The agreements limiting competition covered 1,333 purchases with a total amount of NMCC (the initial maximum contract price) of 49.6 billion rubles, recalls Ilya Rusyaev, managing partner of Rusyaev and Partners, lawyer. The agency involved 248 business entities and 68 customers as defendants in the cases.
For cartels, the antimonopoly authority does not need to prove the actual occurrence of negative consequences, it is enough to establish the very coordination of behavior, the Izvestia interlocutor clarifies.
— In bidding cases, behavioral indicators are typical: synchronicity of bid submission, "rotation" of winners, minimal steps to reduce the visibility of competition, "mirror" price offers, matching contact information and digital traces, — the lawyer lists.
Without the case file, it's hard to say exactly how the cartel was organized, Lando points out.
—Presumably, [the cartel members] coherently participated in tenders for the supply of coagulants and other reagents for water purification in order to maintain prices without lowering the cost below the agreed—upon bar, distribute orders, agreeing in advance who will win where, and exclude real competitors," the expert believes.
The risks to consumers and the budget in water treatment are direct, Rusyaev points out. Maintaining prices for reagents increases the cost of purchasing water supply organizations, narrows the range of suppliers and may increase dependence on a limited number of participants, he emphasizes.
There are also corruption risks, adds Lando. Collusion is often associated with bribing customers (who compile documentation for a specific company). In this case, an increase in tariffs or a deterioration in water quality for consumers is possible, the expert does not exclude.
— In conditions of a continuous technological cycle, all this increases the likelihood of disruptions in the supply of critical materials. Therefore, the legislator identifies the "cartels at auction" in a separate structure with increased sanctions and special incentives for self—disclosure," explains Rusyaev.
Proportionate punishment
According to the law "On Protection of Competition", a ban is imposed on cartels, for violation of which administrative and criminal liability is provided, Igor Kim recalls.
— Responsibility for cartels is mainly administrative. Due to the complexity of proving violations, they prefer to qualify them under simpler articles," the lawyer clarifies.
The punishment for cartel conspiracy is provided for in Part 2 of Article 14.32 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation ("Conclusion of an agreement restricting competition, implementation of coordinated actions restricting competition, coordination of economic activities"), Ilya Rusyaev points out.
— For legal entities, the penalty is a turnover fine from 1/10 to 1/2 of the initial value of the bid item, but not more than 1/25 of the total revenue and not less than 100 thousand rubles. For officials — a fine of 20-50 thousand rubles. rubles or disqualification for up to three years," the lawyer explains.
If you extract large-scale income (over 80 million rubles) or cause major damage (over 16 million rubles), you may be criminalized under art. 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Restriction of competition"), adds the interlocutor of Izvestia.
— For actions that led to price maintenance at mandatory auctions, up to five years in prison are threatened. In case of an organized group, use of official position, or with "particularly large income" (over 395 million rubles) or "particularly large damage" (over 47.5 million rubles) — up to six years. For threats or violence, the punishment is also imprisonment for up to seven years," Rusyaev notes.
Given that in the case of a cartel identified by the FAS, the aggregate initial contract price exceeds 4.6 billion rubles, the penalty for confirming collusion between Metachem LLC and Tradpostavka LLC will be fines of up to 50% of the NMTC (subject to a limit of 1/25 of the total revenue for the previous year), he predicts.
— If it is proved that the extracted income exceeds 395 million rubles or the damage caused exceeds 47.5 million rubles, the qualification may be transferred to Part 3 of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which implies imprisonment for officials for up to six years, with a possible additional fine of up to 1 million rubles or in the amount of earnings for a period of up to five years, — admits the expert.
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