OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2011. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that “R-Pharm” CJSC, “Irvin 2” Ltd., “Optimalnoye Zdorovie” Ltd and “ROSTA” CJSC were involved in bid-rigging in course of procurement of medicines (in violation of Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “ON Protection of Competition”), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

FAS Russia simultaneously considered two cases initiated upon the findings of a joint inspection by the antimonopoly authority and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation. Investigating the first case, it was revealed that “R-Pharm” CJSC and “Irvin 2” Ltd. concluded and implemented an agreement that resulted in maintaining prices at No.081010/001550/45 open auction on 10th October 2008 for supplies of medications, which was organized by the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development of the Russian Federation. The medicine in question was “Mycophenolate Mofetil” used in transplantation of organs and tissues. The initial lot price at the auction was around 100 million Rubles.

Having investigated the second case, the authorities proved bid-rigging collusion between “R-Pharm” CJSC, “Irvin 2” Ltd., “Optimalnoye Zdorovie” Ltd and “ROSTA” CJSC. As in the first case, the companies concluded and implemented an agreement, which resulted in maintaining prices at No. 090428/001550/106 open auction of 28th April 2009 for supplies of medicines. The auction was organized by the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development for procurement of expensive medicines – “Dornase Alpha”, “Mycophenolate Mofetil”, “Fludarabine”; the overall initial price of the four lots of the auction was around 730 million Rubles.

“As a result of anticompetitive agreements, the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development was forced to conclude government contracts based on the results of competitive bidding with the auction winners at the initial (maximum) price or with minimal price reduction. Based on the materials submitted by FAS Russia, the Investigation Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has initiated a criminal case under Part 2 Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”, explained Stats-Secretary Andrey Tsarikovsky, Deputy Head of FAS Russia.

Reference:
Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” prohibits agreements between economic entities or concerted actions of economic entities on the market if such agreements or concerted actions lead or can lead to increasing, decreasing or maintaining prices in course of competitive bidding.