The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined four companies UAH 7.1 million for collusion in tenders for construction and repair of premises in the military and medical sectors, the agency’s press service said.
According to the report, LLC “Kraevid+”, LLC “Interval Bud”, LLC “BVK “Altera” and LLC “Prospect Budcenter” were fined for collusion in bidding for the construction of a training class of a military unit and a dormitory, repair of a unit training center and a gym for military personnel. In addition, the procurement included the reconstruction of the infectious disease department of Smelyanska city hospital and reconstruction of the Vyshgorod central district pharmacy.
The AMCU found that the above-mentioned companies financially supported each other during the procurement and synchronized their actions at the auction, involved the same person for the preparation of financial statements, management of bank accounts, etc.
In addition to the fine, the companies are prohibited from participating in public procurement for three years.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of “Kraevid+” (Chernihiv) is Fedor Filipov, “Interval Bud” (Cherkasy) – Igor Shchur, “BVK “Altera” (Cherkasy) – Dmitry Zaporozhets, “Prospect Budcenter” (Cherkasy) – Vladimir Diachok.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) on Wednesday imposed a UAH 80.11 million fine on JSC Dniproazot, a monopolist in the liquid chlorine market, due to the suspension of its production and sale.
“The stopping of production of liquid chlorine by the enterprise during the period from June 18, 2018 to July 19, 2018 and the termination of its sale from July 1, 2018 to July 19, 2018 are recognized as abuse of a monopoly (dominant) position in the market for the primary sale of liquid chlorine,” the committee’s press release says.
According to it, the company argued that production was stopped due to a significant increase in a gas price and the lack of working capital, but the AMCU, following an investigation, claims that there were no significant changes in the weighted average prices for the purchase of natural gas by the company.
In addition, it was established that at the time of the stoppage of production, Dniproazot had circulating and credit funds available for current settlements with counterparties and conducting business activities.
The Committee believes that among the motives for stopping production was the company’s desire to resume legal relations with JSC Ukrnafta to obtain cheaper raw materials and the company’s intention to raise prices for liquid chlorine.
Following the case consideration, it was established that during 2017-2019, Dniproazot was the only enterprise that produced liquid chlorine in Ukraine, with market shares of 99%, 78% and 68%, respectively, the report says.
The AMCU also noted that since the maximum reserves of liquid chlorine at water utilities could not exceed 15-30% of the daily requirement, some of them found themselves in a crisis situation, since they had limited chlorine residues.
“During the period of Dniproazot’s downtime, meetings were held with the participation of government representatives, during which some water utilities warned about the threat of stopping the disinfection of drinking water… The technological process for purifying drinking water is continuous, so a delay in the reagent delivery could turn into an epidemiological catastrophe on a national scale,” the AMCU said.
The AMCU clarified that in July 2018, the price of goods sold by Dniproazot in tanks increased by 277%, in cylinders – by 133%.
The Committee noted that the issue of setting prices by the enterprise during 2017-2019 is being investigated in another antitrust case.
Dniproazot specializes in production of carbamide, ammonia, sodium hydroxide, liquid chlorine and hydrochloric acid and is controlled by the structures of Privat Group.
The Ministry of Economy proposes to determine the procedure for paying fines to the state budget for advertising discriminatory job advertisements, according to a draft government decree.
The document was made public on Tuesday on the ministry’s website.
According to it, the Ministry proposes to oblige the advertiser to pay a fine within 15 days after receiving the relevant document from the State Labor Service or to challenge such a fine in the central executive body or in court.
In case of non-payment, the fine is proposed to be collected in court, as indicated in the draft resolution.
According to the law on advertising, it is prohibited to indicate the desired age of candidates, to offer jobs only to men or women, with the exception of specific jobs, and to establish other discriminatory criteria in advertising for a vacancy. For violation, the law establishes a fine of ten minimum wages (currently UAH 65,000).
