Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling over the claim of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) to recover from Russia`s Gazprom a UAH 85.9 billion fine, imposed in January 2016, and UAH 85.9 billion in penalties, ACU head Yuriy Terentyev wrote on Facebook.
Gazprom was initially fined for violations of Ukraine`s antitrust legislation.
”The decision of the Economic Court dated December 5, 2016, has entered into force today and shall be fulfilled,” Terentyev said. ”Thus, Gazprom is obliged to pay a UAH 85.965 billion fine and UAH 85.965 billion in penalties, as well as cease violations.”
Earlier, in January 2016, the ACU fined Gazprom UAH 86 billion (about $3.4 billion) for abusing its monopoly on Ukraine`s gas transit market. The decision was adopted pursuant to the government orders, as well as due to the formal charges brought against Gazprom by the European Commission for abusing a dominant market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets in breach of the European Union`s antitrust regulations.
April 12, 2016, Russian energy giant Gazprom decided to appeal to Kyiv Commercial Court. However, the court overruled the claim.
Due to Gazprom`s failure to pay the mentioned fine, the ACU has filed the lawsuit with Kyiv Commercial Court demanding the forced recovery of the fine, as well as the recognition of an obligation to cease violations.
Initially, Kyiv Commercial Court accepted the claim of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and scheduled a hearing on October 31. However, it was postponed twice, and the ruling was handed down in early December 2016. At the same time, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalik noted that Ukraine, did not intend to pump Russian gas as payment of the fine and neither does it plan to violate its transit obligations to European consumers.
