Vilnius court closes case on Gazprom’s access to anti-trust fine documents

“The court concluded that the Competition Council‘s decision had no legal consequences for Gazprom and even if the complaint were granted, the company’s rights and obligations would not change and, therefore, the whole process would be meaningless,” Sigita Jacinevičienė-Baltaduonė, spokeswoman for the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, told BNS.

The court on Jun. 2 is scheduled to start hearing another dispute between Gazprom and the Competition Council in respect of the 35.7-million-euro fine and the Russian company will then be able to ask for access to all materials of the anti-trust investigation.

Gazprom asked the court to annul the Competition Council’s decision of last June refusing to give the company full access to the case-file, saying that its right to defense had been infringed.

The fine was levied last June after a two-year investigation related to plans by Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba (Lithuanian Energy Production) to conclude a natural gas swap deal with the Russian gas supplier.

The competition watchdog’s experts established during the investigation that Gazprom’s refusal to negotiate with Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba on a natural gas swap deal in 2013-2015 prevented the Lithuanian company from purchasing cheaper gas from another supplier and thus breached a condition of a 2004 agreement on the acquisition and sale of shares in Lietuvos Dujos.