Text version
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Hi everyone, my name is Lyubov Sobol, and I
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investigate fraud in
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public procurement. Over the past year, we at FBK (the Anti-Corruption Foundation)
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analyzed more than 3,000 auctions
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with a total value of more than 52 billion rubles
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(about several hundred million U.S. dollars). As a result, we filed 18 complaints
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with the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) regarding cartels. At present,
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9 cases have already been opened, and in 3 of them
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the cartels have been officially confirmed. The others
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are still under review. Guys, this is really
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great. And now I want to tell you what
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was most interesting in our
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public procurement investigations in 2017.
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Story of the Year
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First, let's look at the sectors where we most often
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encountered cartels last year. In 1st
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place, by a wide margin,
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was the supply of medical equipment and
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surgical consumables. We
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found 10 such cartels with a total value
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of more than 35 billion rubles. There were also
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many cartel schemes uncovered in
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urban improvement contracts.
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That was 5 cartels worth 9 billion rubles.
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In 3rd place was road repair. Here we
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found one cartel, but it was worth 2.6
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billion rubles. Moving on, the most
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surprising decision was, of course, the ruling
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on the cartel involving companies linked to
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Putin's chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin. FBK spent more than
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a year investigating it,
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uncovered and proved the largest cartel in
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Russian history. Hardly any of you
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can boast of that. And yet FAS
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did confirm that the cartel existed, although
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it acknowledged collusion for a smaller amount. And what
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happened next? Were they fined? Was a criminal
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case opened?
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No. They were simply exempted from sanctions because
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a few weeks before the ruling was issued,
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the companies submitted statements admitting
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their participation in the cartel—after
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our investigation had already been published, after
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numerous media reports, and after
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you already had all the
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evidence in hand.
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But FAS decided that this was
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a voluntary confession and chose not to
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fine the people involved. And the fine, by the way,
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was supposed to be enormous—billions of
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rubles. That's their idea of mercy.
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Third: Failure of the Year
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Sometimes cartel participants try
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to prove they were not part of the collusion, even though
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the evidence against them is more than
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sufficient. The most notable example
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of such attempts is the story of three
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cartels in procurement of consumables
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for heart and blood vessel
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surgery.
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The cartel participants denied collusion, although
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their bids were submitted from the same IP
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address, the accounts used to create
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and edit the bid files had the same
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name, and before the FAS
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they were represented by the very same
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lawyer. As they say, failure
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was closer than ever.
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This failure is a collapse for FAS, though to give it
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credit, in this case it is on the right
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side and has already recognized one of the cartels.
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We hope that this time there really will be
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major fines imposed.
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Fourth: Multi-Move Scheme of the Year. Someone—and we
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have a good idea who—really doesn't like the fact that
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it is our lawyers who file complaints about
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cartels. So recently FAS developed
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a new practice: they receive our
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complaint and then drag things out during the review.
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And after the legally prescribed
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three-month review period expires,
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they reply that within that time they were unable to find signs
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of a cartel.
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Therefore, they say, there are no grounds to open a case. But
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then, as if nothing had happened, a few
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months later they open a case themselves
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based on the same facts described in our complaint.
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Of course, as a result, FBK does not get the status
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of applicant in the case, which means there is no
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opportunity to challenge unlawful
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actions or ознакомиться with the case materials
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and all you have is a proud press release about how
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they brilliantly uncovered everything on their own.
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This is how events unfolded in two cases already:
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the cartel in procurement of consumables
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for heart and blood vessel
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surgery worth 424
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million rubles, and the cartel in
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urban improvement and repair in Moscow worth 98
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million rubles. In principle, it's not a big deal,
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though I won't hide that it's a little upsetting. But still,
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one wants to ask: are you interested
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in fighting cartels
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or in making sure FBK gets mentioned less?
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We hope it's the former. And finally,
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let's talk about intrigue. In August 2017,
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I spoke about cartel collusion
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in Interior Ministry tenders for vehicle procurement.
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The total value of those contracts was almost
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5 billion rubles. We covered this in more detail
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and even made a video. This case was very
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interesting
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for us, because forming a cartel is not only
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a violation of antimonopoly
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law, but also a criminal
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offense. It has the elements of a crime
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provided for by Article 178 of the Criminal
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Code of the Russian Federation: restriction of
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competition. In terms of consequences, this is exactly the kind of case
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that should lead further.
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The intrigue of 2018 is this: will it lead
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to a real case over the Interior Ministry procurement worth 5 billion
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rubles?
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We are waiting and hoping. If you think our
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work is important and want to support FBK,
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it's easy to do. We fight
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corruption only thanks to your
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support. Donate any amount or
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Sign up for recurring payments
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and of course, give it a like and
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