Earlier in our first article we described how the French tire manufacturer Michelin,through its Turkish dealer in the person of a Turkish holding TATKO T.A.S. and its subsidiary in Kazakhstan “KAZ T–REMA International”, successfully supplies tires Michelin bypassing sanctions in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
Our journalistic investigation has uncovered yet another scheme by which the company Michelin in bypasses sanctions. Turkish company TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO ERASER SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.) creates a company called “DTO TIRE FZCO“. Next Turkish company TATKO T.A.S. buys tires from Michelin and resells “DTO TIRE FZCO“. Then “DTO TIRE FZCO” sells tires directly to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and Kazakhstan via Latvia (data from customs databases are attached). Latvian company “ESTMA” on behalf of “DTO TIRE FZCO” carries out shipments Michelin tires bypassing sanctions to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) to various buyers and also to Kazakhstan to the address of our long-known subsidiary company “KAZ T-REMA International” for further export to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). (data from the customs database is attached).
The question arises: how can a large European corporation ignore sanctions with the help of its Turkish dealer? TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO ERASER SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.) supplies products Michelin to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). And we have practically found an answer to this question, we assume that the current vice president of the company Michelin, Manuel Montanawho was the head of the Turkish office Michelin from August 2016 to February 2019 and as a result had a good and close relationship with the CEO of the company TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO ERASER SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.) by name Vedat Ozcelik.
Photo by Manuel Montana
