FAS identified a cartel during the implementation of the national road project

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of the Russian Federation has identified a cartel during the implementation of the national project "Safe, high-quality Roads" worth almost 1.69 billion rubles. This was announced by the FAS press service on June 30.

It is noted that signs of an illegal agreement were revealed at auctions for the repair of highways in Volgograd. A case has been filed for violation of antimonopoly legislation against three companies — Dom-Stroy LLC, Dorstroy-34 LLC and Astrol-DSK LLC. They are suspected of entering into an anti-competitive agreement in order to maintain prices at auction.

The FAS noted that if found guilty, the cartel members face administrative fines under Clause 2, Part 1, Article 11 of Federal Law No. 135-FZ dated July 26, 2006 "On Protection of Competition", as well as Part 2, 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").

Traffic issue

How does highway quality affect safety

On May 16, it was reported that the deputy director of the Department of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and his accomplices, thanks to the victories of controlled companies at competitions, received income in excess of 700 million rubles. According to the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk, in the period from 2019 to 2021, the official colluded with the heads of competing firms to conclude a cartel agreement. The participants submitted their companies in 20 electronic tenders for the development of transport planning documents, including within the framework of the national project "Safe, high-quality Roads", which brought them more than 700 million rubles in revenue.