RusEnergy

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Federal Anti-Trust Service (FATS) filed more court cases against oil companies last year than during the previous five-six years, announced FATS head Igor Artemyev speaking at a Tuesday meeting of the Federation Council's Committee on natural monopolies. He said that the decisions of his service are always contested in the court. "The FATS must submit protocols of talks conducted by CEOs of companies and other documents as evidence of collusion, which is practically impossible," the official FATS web site quotes Mr. Artemyev. The FATS head cited the example of western anti-monopoly agencies, which have the authority to conduct expanded investigation and confiscate official documents from companies. "We do not have such an authority. Besides, I believe it would be dangerous to give us so much power. Our economy is already overly regulated," Mr. Artemyev underlined. Nevertheless, he pointed out, the agency and its regional branches - in the Stavropol region (Russia's South) and the Krasnoyarsk region (Siberia) -- managed to win several anti-monopoly cases related to the fuel energy sphere.