MOSCOW, February 9 (RAPSI) – The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has revealed violations committed during signing of contracts for purchase of air tickets for servicemen of the Interior Ministry, the Service announced on Thursday.

FAS has conducted an unscheduled inspection of activities of the Interior Ministry’s Head Center for special transportation. The inspection showed that since 2011 the Center has signed agreements with contractors for the provision of the purchase of airline tickets amounting to more than 8 billion rubles ($135.5 million).

According to the Service, legislation on government procurement and contract system requires carrying out of such services with the use of competitive methods. FAS notes that the Center signed public procurement contracts only with one contractor, chosen without any rationale by the Center itself.

As a result of this inspection administrative cases are to be launched against officials involved in an ungrounded signing of public procurement contracts.