For several years, KIAP employees represented the Client’s interests in a series of proceedings with the Irkutsk Office of FAS in cases of antimonopoly violation and administrative liability, which were considered in various instances including the internal appeal of the FAS and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
The process deserves attention due to the fact that when considering the main antimonopoly case the position of KIAP was supported by the Central Office of the Russian FAS but the Arbitration Court made an unprecedented resolution by overturning the decision of the departmental appeal and leaving the decision of the OFAS unchanged thereby worsening rather than improving the position of the applicants. The appellate court left the decision of the first instance court unchanged despite the fact that the appellant was, among other things, the Central Office of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service.
While conducting the case of challenging an administrative fine, the courts of various instances disagreed on the procedure for bringing the Client to administrative liability which entailed “two rounds” of consideration of the case, as a result of which a fine imposed in the amount of 42 million roubles was declared legal.
In parallel, a complaint was filed in the interests of the Client with the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to challenge the procedural rules applied in the antimonopoly case, which allowed the courts of the Irkutsk District to support the position of the regional antimonopoly authority contrary to the opinion and conclusions of the Central Office of the FAS.
During the trial period, KIAP employees prevented the collection of a fine by bailiffs to whom the FAS sent a writ of execution before the deadline established by law, and upon completion of all procedures, they obtained an additional instalment plan to pay the fine for 3 months.
As a result, the measures implemented by KIAP made it possible to defer the payment of the fine for a long period (3.5 years), within which the Client was able to take into account this risk, create reserves and, thus, minimize the negative effects for the business. In addition, the actions of KIAP specialists made it possible to minimize the criminal legal consequences for the Client’s management.
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