На русском языке:
К поставкам БелАЗов в Чили причастен экс-замдиректора Вильнюсской тюрьмы, которому теперь может грозить до 5 лет
На беларускай мове:
Да паставак БелАЗаў у Чылі датычны экс-намеснік дырэктара Віленскай турмы, якому зараз можа пагражаць да 5 гадоў
On September 7, the Telegram channel «MotolkoPomogi» published information that Lithuania stopped the transportation of 18 containers with spare parts for BelAZ dump trucks through the port of Klaipeda, but the very fact of the arrest of cargo is only a small part of a large scheme to circumvent sanctions, where there is a trace of several companies in Belarus, Lithuania and even Cyprus.
The Lithuanian publication Siena and the program «Let’s deal with it» of the Belsat TV channel released a joint investigation that explains who is behind the attempts to supply BelAZ to Chile in circumvention of EU sanctions.
The cost of the detained BelAZ dump trucks is more than $5 million. Who supplied them to the port of Klaipeda?
18 containers, which were detained in the port of Klaipeda, contained four BelAZ disassembled dump trucks. They tried to take them to Chile.
Investigators found out that these were dump trucks of the 7513 series. The cost of one such machine is $1,266,500. The supply contract was concluded in May, the recipient is the Chilean dealer Belaz Latin America, and the buyer is Finmining, the Singapore subsidiary of the Belarusian plant.
Containers with BelAZ were delivered to the port of Klaipeda by rail, and the freight forwarding was handled by the Belarusian company Transglobal, which is known for supplying Belarusian products abroad, in particular, they supplied products of Naftan, Gomselmash and Belaruskali.
The owner of the company is Grant Oganyants, a citizen of Russia. After the detention of BelAZ, journalists tried to contact him, but immediately after the question he hung up on them.
Mr. Oganyants is also the founder of the company Diesel Kit, which in 2017 imported several batches of BelAZ to Kyrgyzstan, but not all the equipment passed customs procedures. As a result, the cargo was arrested and criminal proceedings were instituted .
Did BelAZ want to deliver 18 dump trucks to Chile?
The delivery of 4 dump trucks to Chile is not the only one this year. It was found out that the company planned to send 18 cars to this country.
Another company that should be engaged in transportation is Belship, they won the tender for the supply of 10 BelAZ and signed a contract, which, like the tender, was concluded after the introduction of EU sanctions.
Journalists also contacted Vadim Makarov, the director of the company Belship, in order to find out how the company is going to supply cars to this Latin American country.
«As for those BelAZ dump trucks that were detained, our company has nothing to do with them. As for other information, we are constrained by a confidential agreement with our client, therefore, sorry, I cannot answer other questions», – Makarov said.
Who is Aleksejus Linovas?
It is interesting that since September 2019, the owner of Belship is a Lithuanian citizen Aleksejus Linevas, a former Deputy Director of Vilnius prison, who retired after a series of scandals with humiliation of subordinates, pressure and problems with salaries for employees.
Prior to the acquisition, Belship was owned by the Cypriot firm Nativus Limited, whose assets at the end of 2018 amounted to more than $270 thousand. But the most interesting fact is that Nativus Limited is also owned by Alexejus Linovas.
It was not possible to take a comment from Linovas, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania commented on this information:
«A citizen of Lithuania who is the sole shareholder of the company and benefits from the transaction with the object of sanctions can be considered as a violator of EU sanctions», – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written comment.
And the Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office reported that the violation of international sanctions leads to criminal liability of up to 5 years in prison.
Read the Lithuanian part of the investigation in the Siena material
See the details and leaks of conversations in the program «Let’s deal with it»
Thanks to the Belarusians and the Sanctions Watch project for their help in gathering information for this investigation. If you know how other state-owned companies are trying to circumvent the sanctions imposed, send all the information to @sanctionswatch_bot
