Usually the word “cartel” evokes associations with the South American drug mafia, and in this case there was collusion, scandals and crime. Legal disputes flared up around the “Rostov” road construction cartel: this is a very multi-component and “many-headed” organization led by influential participants P.A. Rogachkin. and Kuts L.P. tried to legalize the illegal activity of participating in public procurement for the conclusion of contracts for the construction of roads.
The “cartel” included such companies as T-Trans LLC, Rostovskoye DSU LLC, Taganrogskoye DSU LLC, Tatsinskoye DSU LLC, VolgogradAvtoDorStroy LLC and RostovAvtoDorStroy LLC. FAS Russia conducted an inspection and found violations of the law in 121 cases of trading for a total amount of 24 billion rubles. Rostov builders were not at a loss and tried to appeal the same FAS decision in two different cases.
And then the legal drama began. Despite the obvious transparency of the scheme used and the loud scandal in the media, the Moscow Arbitration Court in both cases declared the FAS decision illegal. Then the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the first instance court in one of the cases. Now it is being considered in the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District, which, after the first meeting, postponed its consideration until April 10 of this year.
Perhaps the case was postponed because an investigator from the Investigative Committee of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Rostov Region became involved in it: information about this appeared in the case file immediately after the first meeting. What exactly is the interest of the investigative authorities is not yet clear, but it is possible that a criminal case was opened against the cartel members, despite their extensive connections. Will FAS Russia cope in court or will the cartel not be defeated without investigative authorities?
After all, the second case still remains unresolved. The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal, represented by Judge Valeria Yatseva, who was one of the judges who recognized the FAS decision as legal in the first case, this time for some reason postpones the consideration. Whether the court will be able to see an obvious bypass of procedural legislation or will give cartel participants the opportunity to continue to violate antimonopoly laws will become clear at the court hearing on April 16, 2024.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”