The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has announced that it has fined three Ukrainian steel trading companies a total of UAH 1.06 million (about $132,417) for creating an anticompetitive price-fixing conspiracy at the tender for the supply of pipeline valves and spares to the country's nuclear power company Energoatom held last year.
Accordingly, the steel trading companies Steel Arm Prom Group, TD MK Splav and Interarm came to an agreement regarding bidding offers for the Energoatom tender, which led to a distortion of their results and to an increase in the selling price of products, and which ensured that Steel Arm Prom Group and TD MK Splav successfully claimed certain lots in the tender.
The actions of the traders led to an expenditure increase in budgetary funds estimated at more than UAH 9.6 million (about $1.2 million).