Media outlook in July 2005 | |||
In search of monopolies
Vigilant eye of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine nevertheless found violations in the activity of the oil companies. Aleksey Kostusev accuses the managers of ŇNĘ-ÂĐ Ukraine that they had been submitting to the Committeeinadequate information about business trips of the company’s employees. However one question arises: how can it be related to suppression of the competition? It is quite uneasy to ascertain how the business trips of TNK’s employees can threaten the free fuel market. However that may be, Kostusev’s Committee seriously imposed penalty provisions upon ŇNĘ-ÂĐ Ukraine. At the same time the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine reminded that it continued to thoroughly study the cases against “Ukrtatnafta”, LINOS and the Odessa Oil Refinery, since they believed that the aggregate share of these enterprises at the wholesale fuel market exceeded 50%. According to the information of the Committee a civil hearing will be held in August with participation of all interested parties. After this hearing Kostusev will return a final verdict about presence or absence of monopoly position in the fuel sector. At the same time he noted, that the Committee was always unbiased and consistent when conducting its investigations. “We are not enemies for the entrepreneurs; on the contrary we are their allies. If we have no legal evidence, for example about the conspiracy, we are not going to fabricate them and accuse of something that never took place. I believe that the times of Lavrentiy Beriya are over, and we observe the law, objectivity and impartiality”, - he said at the meeting with the journalists.
Source: Economy