MAN representatives demand to remove the article on import substitution.
The other day, this office sent a claim to The Moscow Post with poorly concealed threats – to remove two investigations within 5 days … Otherwise – the court, appeals to the Investigative Committee, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, compensation for harm, etc.
By the way, the formidable letter was signed by Alexander Redko, the leading lawyer of MAN Truck and Bus Rus LLC, however, for some reason, the form arrived without an outgoing number.
The editorial reminds that all journalistic investigations were made on the basis of documents sent to the editorial office by businessman Yury Sannikov, who is well aware of the situation with import substitution. Namely, how, under the guise of import substitution, foreign products enter the Russian market, and who, as if remaining on the sidelines, removes the “foam”.
But what kind of buses does Moscow get? And does the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, know about this, a very “cunning” import substitution?
The Moscow Post correspondent tried to sort out the claims of MAN Truck and Bus Rus LLC.
“Geroi” follow goat paths?
The first investigation by “MAN on KAMAZ trucks: how foreign products enter the Russian market under the guise of import substitution” was published on June 27 of this year
Later, on October 24, another journalistic investigation was published “Heroes” of state corporations went around: the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec continue to “import-substitute” products with import-substituting ones?” documentation. This is how the country of origin is substituted. And the buses become Russian.
Mr. Sannikov gave an example: in violation of Federal Law No. 44 of the Federal Law on forged examination certificates of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, instead of Russian-made NEFAZ buses, a batch of Turkish-made Lion's Intercity model MAN buses was illegally purchased by the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans of the Government of Moscow German company MAN Truck & Bus SE at inflated prices.
The purchase was made through an electronic auction of the Department for Competition Policy under the pretext of the Moscow government's concern for wheelchair users.
And there are documents confirming this, according to Sannikov, a scam by the German company MAN Truck & Bus SE, its Russian subdivision MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC and State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans.
Document provided by Yuri Sannikov
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
This is a reworked 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.
“It would seem that there is a violation of the state policy of import substitution,” Mr. Sannikov believes. “But the scam with the illegal purchase of MAN buses using thimble-handling documents and the illegal scheme to circumvent federal legislation turned out to be not the most serious problems among those that were revealed later.” Sending such an instruction to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade did not make sense. does not control the execution of public procurement contracts with its functionality, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 5, 2008 No. 438. Sending such an instruction to the Federal Antimonopoly Service also did not make sense, although in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 30, 2004 No. 331 “On approval of the Regulations on the Federal Antimonopoly Service”, the FAS is an authorized federal executive body that performs the functions – including – of monitoring compliance with the law in the field of procurement of goods, works, services.
And there are questions: who controls the bodies of internal state (municipal) financial control? And how do they control the execution of public procurement contracts?
And how many foreign products illegally bypassed Federal Law No. 44 FZ and, in violation of the state policy of import substitution, were purchased by state and municipal organizations with budget money from the total volume of state and municipal purchases in the amount of almost 290 billion euros?
And “damage to business reputation”
But what does the leading lawyer Redko write to the Editorial Office?
“The information presented in the articles is false, discrediting the honor and dignity of the company's employees, and also damages the company's business reputation…”
Document sent by Alexander Redko
Mr. Redko reminds that MAN Truck and Bus Rus LLC has been operating for more than 23 years. And allegedly, the company has never been a participant in litigation on “bypass transactions” for this long time.
But, perhaps, Alexander Redko has been working as a leading lawyer of MAN Truck and Bas Rus LLC not so long ago, because the Editorial Board received new, interesting documents, including those on lawsuits.
Document submitted by Alexander Redko
“The letter signed by the leading lawyer of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC A.V. Redko dated October 27, 2022, without an outgoing number, with a claim to the publication about the publication of allegedly false information, contains obviously false information,” Mr. – Mr. Sannikov: Firstly, there is a statement that “…Over this long period (23 years) our company has never been involved in any corruption or circumvention litigation.” Sannikov doubts this statement and shows document from 2014:
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
Yuri Sannikov sent copies of several court decisions on such “crooked” operations to MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC.
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
“Secondly, the letter states that the company, both at the international level and at the Russian level, has built effective processes to prevent abuse of power by both ordinary employees and management (anti-corruption compliance) … This statement is false.
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
“A book could be written on this topic about scams under the roof of the German company TRATON,” Mr. Sannikov continues our conversation, “it includes the company MAN. Swedish company SCANIA, which is part of TRATON, like MAN. And MAN works according to the same TRATON standards as SCANIA…”
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
According to Yury Sannikov, the anti-corruption compliance of the MAN company (and in fact the TRATON company) is a system for identifying corruption problems and their subsequent masking. So the so-called Code of Conduct for suppliers and business partners of the MTBO is in fact a fig leaf to cover up the ugly behavior of MAN employees.
Document provided by Yuri Sannikov
Next. And this is thirdly, in a letter from Mr. Redko, he claims that the company provided its explanations and position to state bodies on the supply and further sale of MAN buses, incl. Moscow Prosecutor's Office.
No violations of the company and its employees by law enforcement agencies have been established. This statement – according to Mr. Sannikov – is also false.
Law enforcement agencies (the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation) continue their investigation into the scam with MAN buses for wheelchair users. And the prosecutor's office continues its check.
The check of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation is still at the stage of collecting the required documents.
Document provided by Yuri Sannikov
Fourthly, the letter states that “… The documents mentioned in the article also confirm the absence of any violations on either side.” This statement is also false.
Document provided by Yuri Sannikov
“The publication contains a copy of decision No. 077/06/100-17880/2021 dated 10/06/2022 of the Commission of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Moscow on the absence of violations of the law DURING THE ELECTRONIC AUCTION of the Moscow Department for Competition Policy of the Government of the Capital. I have never disputed, – continues Yuri Sannikov. – The violations concerned the PERFORMANCE OF THE CONTRACT after this auction, which the OFAS did not check. This was clearly stated in the decision of the OFAS. That is, during the state auction, in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 656, goods were offered for delivery to the state customer of Russian origin, and in fact, in violation of the above-mentioned Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation and the state policy of import substitution, the goods of foreign production were delivered.
According to Mr. Sannikov, the leading lawyer should read legal documents more carefully. And in this case, the lawyer is trying to shield not only his organization, but also the Moscow government in this illegal scam
Fifth, the letter states that the employees of the company's Sales Management Department, whose names are listed in the article, live in Russia and do not plan to move to other countries. They continue to work and conduct commercial activities of the company in Russia. This information is also false. Let the company present a copy of the foreign passport of the manager Anton Surin with notes on his departure from the territory of the Russian Federation to Georgia and a copy of his travel document issued by the company's management to cover his departure.
“If this criminal scam in public procurement with the complicity of the German company MAN Truck & Bus and State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans were an isolated case,” the author of the letter further believes, “it would be a completely ordinary problem. But this scam indicates a completely different thing – about the threatening scale of the complete lack of state control over the implementation of Russian legislation in the field of public procurement … “
From the Moscow government to the company MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC, they reported letters from businessman Sannikov indicating the main organizers and executors of the bus scam from the German sides.
After this “signal”, the technical executor, the bus sales manager Anton Surin, left the territory of Russia.
The higher-level executor, the commercial director of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC Pavel Selev, according to Sannikov, is negotiating with by his German leadership, so that he was urgently given the opportunity to leave Russia.
“But after the departure of Jan Eichinger, General Director of MAN Truck and Bass RUS LLC, and other designated characters for the cordon, law enforcement agencies will not be able to take they have testimonies,” Yury Sannikov believes.
And in this regard, the entire burden of responsibility for violating the state policy of import substitution and the relevant legislation may lie with the Moscow government.
Document provided by Yury Sannikov
Last year the company would not have paid any attention to itself in the press. Yury Sannikov is convinced of this. But the parent company, Volkswagen, is concerned about the possible cleaner sale of its Russian assets, including OOO MAN Truck and Bus RUS, to a Russian buyer. And so the company was forced to react to the publications and give birth to a letter of claim, which was waved by the leading lawyer Redko.
The Moscow Post editors are following the developments.