MirTechMed

History

2024: Chelyabinsk OFAS fined three cartel participants in the supply of medical equipment for 737 million rubles

The Chelyabinsk Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (OFAS) of Russia imposed fines on three companies - MirTechMed, FortMedTech and TransMed - for participating in a large cartel at the auction for the supply of medical equipment. The amount of fines exceeded 9 million rubles. These companies were part of the cartel, which involved 18 firms that took part in procurement for a total initial amount of more than 500 million rubles. The department announced this at the end of May 2024.

An investigation launched in March 2023 found that the company's data used anti-competitive methods to negotiate contracts at maximum prices. As a result of such actions, participants reduced the initial prices of contracts by only 2-4%.

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The companies took part in 49 purchases for the supply of medical equipment and products, such as endoscopes, X-ray systems and ventilators, from 2020 to 2021. The Ministry of Health of the Chelyabinsk Region acted as a customer in 46 of them.

The antimonopoly department established that companies from different regions of Russia, including Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Udmurtia, used a single infrastructure and identical application processing. They maintained a long financial relationship and used the same contact details, which made it possible to implement an anti-competitive agreement.

In January 2024, the actions of 17 companies were declared illegal, and they were fined a total of 36 million rubles. In May 2024, MirTechMed, FortMedTech and TransMed joined them, which increased the total amount of fines to 45 million rubles.

According to OFAS materials, in addition to fines for anti-competitive actions, companies were also brought to administrative responsibility. Decisions on the imposition of fines were made against MirTechMed LLC, FortMedTech LLC and TransMed LLC. The total initial prices of contracts involved in fraud amounted to more than 500 million rubles.^[1]

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