The Moscow Post has obtained a new letter regarding the opaque activities of the German company MAN.
” class=”img-shaddow article-img” style=”width: 100%;max-height: 100%;” title=”MANok for import substitution: how to consider for three and leave the Federal Tax Service with a “nose”?” width=”800″ alt=”MANok for import substitution: how to consider for three and leave the Federal Tax Service with a “nose”?” />
As the characters in Vladimir Menshov's movie “Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears” said, “the evening stops being boring”… This is the content of the letter, which outlines shocking facts.
But it's worth mentioning that The Moscow Post has been untangling the complex situation involving the top managers of the well-known German company MAN for several months. And in a new letter to the Editorial Office – about the adventures of MAN not only in the Russian Federation.
According to the writer of the letter, businessman Yury Sannikov, MAN has been involved in some less than honorable actions for years!
And the initial investigation by “MAN on KAMAZ trucks: how foreign products enter the Russian market under the guise of import substitution” was published at the end of June this year, and the investigation “Russian import substitution in Turkish” appeared in early July.</p
The continuation happened at the end of October, when the journalistic investigation “Heroes” of state corporations went around was published.
On November 9, another part of this detective story appeared under the title “Lost MAN bus: who replaces imports and for how much?”
And, finally, on November 24, the investigation “Import substitution manipulators, or new adventures of the bus” was published.
And the Editorial Board of The Moscow Post received a formidable letter from the lawyer of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC Alexander Redko, who threatened thunder and lightning in the capital's courts if the Editorial Office did not remove the publication within 5 days. And why should the Editorial Board remove investigations based on rich factual material?
The reporter of The Moscow Post understood the new story.
The silence of Mayor Sobyanin
Let's remember again the essence of the dark history: how, under the guise of import substitution, foreign products enter the Russian market and who, as if staying on the sidelines, skims the “cream”.
Documentation is falsified. This is how the country of origin is substituted. And the buses are becoming Russian.
The purchase was made through an electronic auction of the Department for Competition Policy under the pretext of the Moscow government taking care of wheelchair users.
And there are documents confirming this, according to Yuri Sannikov , the scam of the German company MAN Truck & Bus SE, its Russian subdivision OOO MAN Truck and Bus RUS and State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans.
We are talking about a redesigned passport of one of the MAN buses, in which the brand of the German bus of Turkish production MAN disappeared, but the identification number (VIN code) of the chassis remained.
What type of buses does the capital get, and from where? Does Mayor Sobyanin know about this clever import substitution?
The writer sent the document to the Editorial Office
The chief lawyer of the company, Mr. Redko, points out that MAN Truck and Bus Rus LLC has been in operation for more than 23 years. Allegedly, the company has never been involved in legal disputes about bypassing rules for this extended period.
Maybe Alexander Redko hasn't been the main lawyer of MAN Truck and Bus Rus LLC for very long, because the Editorial Board received documents, including those related to lawsuits.
A letter signed by the chief lawyer of the company LLC “MAN Truck and Bus RUS” A. V. Redko dated October 27, 2022 claims that the published information is false. Mr. Sannikov believes that it contains clearly inaccurate information when it states that “… over this long period (23 years), our company has never been a party to any corruption or circumvention litigation.”
But Yuri Sannikov presents a document from 2014.
Document sent by the author of the letter to the Editorial
Mr. Sannikov sends two court decisions from the Moscow Arbitration Court (the second one from 2011) in response to the alleged lack of MAN company involvement in litigation related to corruption schemes or bypass transactions with the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation.
The writer submitted the document to the Editorial Office
Both court decisions uncovered the participation of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC in dealings with fake intermediaries!
Deceptive plans
Why do we use fake intermediaries in business transactions?
“They are needed to withdraw the company’s money from tax control. With a high degree of probability for the subsequent illegal cashing of this money,” says Yuri Lvovich. “With the accompanying corruption involvement of the head of the company, which thus withdraws its money through a fictitious intermediary…”
Document submitted by lawyer A. Redko
MAN, represented by its Russian division LLC MAN Automobiles Russia, previously known as LLC ” MAN Truck and Bus RUS”), filed a lawsuit against the decision of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 26 for Moscow to challenge the decision holding MAN Automobiles Russia LLC responsible.
But what did LLC “MAN Automobiles Russia” actually receive?
Document submitted by lawyer A. Redko
The Arbitration Court's decision shows that IFTS No. 26 for Moscow conducted an on-site tax audit of the company MAN Automobiles Russia LLC for the accuracy of tax calculation and payment for the period from 01/01/2007 to 12/31/2008. Following the audit, the tax authority decided to hold the company accountable.
The writer submitted the document to the Editorial Office
The company illegally inflated its expenses by using the so-called intermediary-commission agent without economic justification. As a result, MAN Automobiles Russia LLC gained an unlawful tax advantage.
So, on October 17, 2006, MAN Automobiles Russia LLC (MAR) entered into a commission agreement with an intermediary commission agent – a certain company LLC “Spetsrostechno”.
Document submitted by the author of the letter to the Editors
The commission agent agreed to handle the actual and legal transactions for selling MAN vehicles on behalf of the IDA, with the expenses covered by the IDA, for a fee.
The commission agent agreed to receive the MAN heavy trucks from the IDA for the purpose of selling them for a commission.
Between 10/17/2006 and 02/05/2007, additional agreements were signed by the IDA and the commission agent, who committed to sell 186 MAN heavy trucks. The commission agent managed to sell 178 vehicles within the 2006-2007 period.
It doesn't seem unusual.
However, the tax authorities uncovered facts that raised doubts about the honesty and integrity of the IDA in this agreement and subsequent commercial transactions.
IFTS No. 26 found that the commission agent, Spetsrostechno LLC, engaged another company as a subcommission agent to fulfill its commission duties at JSC “Rostekhno”. However, it was discovered that the subcommission agent, Rostekhno LLC, was already directly involved with MAN.
Heavy trucksMAN. Photo: https://www.automotiveworld.com/articles /interview–ben–kraaijenhagen–product–management– environment–trends–man– truck–bus/
Rostechno LLC was actually a dealer of MAN Automobiles Russia LLC, responsible for selling MAN vehicles and providing after-sales service for them.
Spetsrostekhno” LLC, the commission agent, did not meet the conditions for providing intermediary services for the IDA, as it lacked technical personnel, fixed assets, production assets, and warehouses.
The commission agent did not have its own staff to handle the sales of MAN automotive equipment, nor did it have marketers and advertisers to promote MAN vehicle sales.
The cost of the cars on the waybills and invoices of the commission agent “Spetsrostechno” LLC matched the cost of selling these cars to end consumers by the subcommission agent “Rostechno” LLC. Additionally, all the documents of Spetsrostechno LLC, according to calculations, completely aligned in terms of dates and amounts with the documents on the sale of MAN cars by the subcommission agent of Rostechno LLC.
But what was the subcommission agent's motivation?
Did MAN and its commission agent find Russian merchants who agreed to sell MAN vehicles for free?
The commission company Spetsrostechno LLC was established on September 27, 2006 – just 2 weeks before the contract was signed with MAN Automobiles Russia LLC. This fact suggests that Spetsrostechno LLC was created with a specific purpose related to operations between MAN Automobiles Russia LLC, Spetsrostechno LLC, and Rostechno LLC. However, the commission company “Spetsrostechno” did not pay taxes for these operations.
“The interdependence of the parties to the transaction – the commission agent of Spetsrostekhno LLC and the subcommission agent of Rostekhno LLC, the implementation of settlements using one bank, the impossibility of making several bank transfers between separate legal entities within one day in the absence of mutual agreement between these persons,” Yury continues his story Sannikov.
The authorized capital of the commission agent Spetsrostechno LLC only amounted to 20,000 rubles.
However, the MAP company paid the commission agent Spetsrostechno LLC for the sale of 178 cars in the range of 15 to 20 million euros.
The agent in the materials from the Federal Tax Service No. 26 indicated that Rostekhno LLC was a dealer for MAR LLC for MAN vehicles. So, Rostekhno LLC didn't need other suppliers like Spetsrostechno LLC to get more vehicles from MAP.
Also, Rostechno wanted to get MAN vehicles directly from MAP to show increasing sales as an official MAN dealer.
But the IDA leadership intervened in this plan and pressured Rostekhno LLC to involve Spetsrostekhno LLC as an intermediary commission agent to receive and sell MAN vehicles.
Another important detail: initially, Dolidze was the founder of Spetsrostechno LLC. However, the company's ownership was later transferred to "Beachgrove Property Corporation" (Belize). This change indicates that Spetsrostechno LLC was not fully compliant with the tax code.
The transfer of similar companies to Beachgrove Property Corporations is a common fate for many dubious companies involved in evading taxes.
The author of the letter submitted the document to the Editorial.
And to sell goods worth 15 to 20 million euros to a newly registered company without any history, with unknown CEO and founder?
Mr. Sannikov believes there is no logical reason for this organization's involvement in the IDA business. However, the logical explanation is that this is the illegal withdrawal of money from MAN's accounts with the help of Spetsrostechno LLC to evade taxes.
Apparently, the IDA leadership organized this transaction under complete control. The commission agent Spetsrostechno LLC was a tool of the MAR company.
So, the company Spetsrostechno was a fictitious commission agent for evading taxes and cashing out dealer and retail markups.
The tax authorities discovered that MAR paid 65,766,372 rubles as commission to Spetsrostechno, which equals 1,879,039 euros at the 2006-2007 exchange rate.
This money was taken from MAN. It is likely that it was used for bribes.
Despite these findings, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in favor of the MAR company, confirming the facts revealed by the tax authority.
p>
The court's verdict was announced… The taxpayer is not responsible for the actions of all organizations involved in the multi-stage process of paying and transferring taxes to the budget.
IFTS No. 26 did not challenge the decision. Why?
On the other hand, a new court case, when a couple of years later the company MAN Automobiles Russia LLC/MAN Truck and Bas RUS LLC tried to file a lawsuit against the Federal Tax Service for being caught for tricks with non-payment of VAT, came out the automobile company is already sideways.
And after that, the leading lawyer of MAN Truck and Bas RUS LLC sends threatening letters to the Editorial Office demanding that the investigations be canceled?
TO CONTINUE
