The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) found LLC “Marxoll” (formerly LLC “Dryada Zakhid”) and LLC “Ligna Ukraine” guilty of collusion during their participation in two tenders for the purchase of plastic cassettes (with an estimated value of UAH 34,470,680.00) and the purchase of tags for marking timber (with an estimated value of UAH 26,534,070.00) held by the state-owned enterprise Lesa Ukrainy in 2023 and 2024, the press service of the agency reported.
The committee established circumstances which, taken together, indicate that the companies engaged in anti-competitive concerted actions with the aim of eliminating competition between them during their participation in the aforementioned tenders. The facts revealed showed joint and coordinated behavior by the companies in preparing for and participating in the tenders, as well as communication between them and the exchange of information, the statement said.
The AMCU recognized the actions of Markosoll LLC and Ligna Ukraine LLC as a violation of competition law under paragraph 4 of part 2 of Article 6, and Article 50(1) of the Law “On Protection of Economic Competition,” which led to a distortion of the tender results, and fined them a total of UAH 5,495,260.
The agency recalled that, according to the Law “On Public Procurement,” the basis for refusing to participate in a procurement procedure is the fact that a business entity (participant) has been held liable within the last three years for committing anti-competitive concerted actions related to the distortion of tender results.