How much is the "gelding"?

On the supply of VIP cars for Russian intelligence services, the company Deripaska, Friedman and the Brooklyn businessman of domestic roslic

It rarely happens that in an investigation that has lasted many years and ended with the court’s accusatory, there was no offended, injured side. The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were doing business ...

It rarely happens that in an investigation that has lasted many years and ended with the court’s accusatory, there was no offended, injured side. The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dealt with the Daimler Automobile Conceived business for at least four years-from 2004 to 2008. During this time, they managed to collect sufficient information confirming Daimler's bribery around the world. The materials were transferred to the Washington district, the accused - the Auto Concert himself and its representative in Russia - at the short time they pleaded guilty: for many years they gave bribes to officials in exchange for major state contracts. The total amount of bribes around the world exceeded $ 56 million, a considerable part of which was spent in Russia.

The federal judge of the United States Richard Leon decided: since there are no American officials among the bribery workers, and Daimler pleaded guilty and is ready to pay $ 185 million to the US budget, it is pointless to further search for the perpetrators. All participants in the process were satisfied with this decision.

The US budget was replenished by $ 185 million. The investigation has ended for the German automatic concern, the loud scandal will be frozen, and from an economic point of view, Daimler is also not in voyage: bribes allowed the companies to conclude contracts around the world for more than $ 2 billion, so 185 million is an insignificant amount paid to the Americans for their own calmness. The decision of the federal judges was also satisfied with the bribe takers, including from the Russian side: their names are still secret.

Recall the scheme according to which bribery payments were made. Money from the accounts of the head company or its subsidiaries was transferred to one-day firms-from the USA and Costa Rica to the British Virgin Islands. The accounts of many "garbage" companies belonging to Russian officials were in the banks of Latvia and Dalaver, where they were apparently cashed out. What is curious, today this scheme is almost completely repeated in another high -profile investigation initiated by the German police. In multimillion-dollar bribes, officials of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia are suspected of the largest manufacturer of computer equipment-Hewlett-Packard (HP). German investigators believe that, as in the case of Daimler, commission was paid in exchange for major state contracts.

Experts of Novaya Gazeta from law enforcement agencies are sure that these two high -profile affairs are binding a lot in common. They believe that the scheme, according to which large state contracts concluded, both in the case of Daimler and HP, are the same. Usually, in order for the bribe to be economically beneficial, the supplier overestimates the prices for his product, a contract is concluded, and the bribe taker is simply deducted by the difference from the real cost and high. Experts of Novaya Gazeta are sure: European companies, even from among those that give bribes, do not work according to this scheme. Most likely, in both cases, it was about very large deliveries to which a wholesale discount is usually made. Apparently, Daimler and HP did not make discounts, but listed her officials to offshore companies.

Today, when it became known about the German investigation against Hewlett-Packard, Russian law enforcement agencies should have acted as follows in theory. The Prosecutor General’s Office was supposed to send legal assistance requests to America and Germany and ask for the materials of both affairs. If they call specific names and there are grounds for initiating a criminal case, then the Prosecutor General could convey these materials for further investigation. We sent an official request to the Prosecutor General’s Office, but we were not answered whether the department was going to do anything in connection with these loud scandals.

Actually, finding those responsible for state contracts five years ago is simple. However, most likely, people who signed the papers are nothing more than performers. Practice shows: negotiations on large, multimillion -dollar contracts are carried out at a high level. Therefore, apparently, in the affairs of Daimler and HP, very serious personal and state interests have intertwined, and it seems that no one intends to insist on further proceedings. Only a public, public investigation will help to find the perpetrators in this loud scandal. We will try to understand how today the fleet of Russian state bodies and special services is arranged, which of them can be involved in the business of the German car account and how much does the budget of the VIP machines of officials cost?

Daimler has his own representative in Russia-CJSC Mercedes-Benz Rus, which also pleaded guilty in Washington’s district court. Surprisingly, since 2007, this company, according to the Federal Register of State Contracts, has not concluded six contracts with Russian state bodies. And almost all deliveries were made by the official dealers of the Daimler representative in Russia. The General Director of the Mercedes-Benz Rus Jurgen Zauer did not comment on the official request of Novaya Gazeta and did not answer whether there was a similar scheme earlier or had to resort to it in connection with the investigation of the Americans.

We studied state contracts of six Russian departments (Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, FSO, UKP, Prosecutor General and Department of Presidential Affairs) and was surprised to find that perhaps 90 percent of all the deliveries of expensive Mercedes were carried out by the same group of companies: New York Motors-Moskva, Panavto and Avilon. All of them belong to the same persons.

Avilon is the official dealer of Mercedes-Benz Rus. The company "New York Motors-Moscow" is Ford dealer, but this does not prevent her from concluding major contracts for the supply of Mercedes. Forbes magazine included New York Motors-Moscow in its list of 200 most closed companies in Russia. According to the Skrin database, the founder of one of the main suppliers of Mercedes for special services is the New York Motors Corp company, registered in New Jersey. American commercial registers show that one of the co -owners of the company is Alexander Warsaw.

Forbes reported that Warsaw, who had long settled in America, had already retired and transferred the management of the automobile business to Andrei Pavlovich, who heads Avilon and Panavto. Pavlovich did not respond to the official request of Novaya Gazeta and did not confirm to us whether Warsaw has nothing to do with Mercedes suppliers for Russian government agencies.

In American commercial registers, we managed to find the second New York Motors Corp company, which is registered in New York in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn company, the owner of which, according to the Americans, is the same Alexander Warsaw, is engaged in the rental and sale of used cars. No more than four people work in it, and the annual income does not exceed half a million dollars. But in Russia, “Avilon”, “Panavto” and “New York Motors-Moscow”, according to the Federal Register of State Contracts, for the last 2-3 years, they put cars of cars with more than 3 billion rubles. The Director General of these companies Andrei Pavlovich did not answer, thanks to which they manage to conclude such large contracts and whether his companies participated in transactions, which were investigated by the US Department of Justice and SEC.

In general, a fairly small group of companies is engaged in the supply of Russian special services for the fleet of Russian special services and state bodies, which have won competitions for many years. Perhaps the largest of all suppliers is the "military-industrial company". The company was formed in 2006 and is part of the Russian Machines holding, owned by Oleg Deripaska. The Military Industrial Company Manages several plants producing military equipment. The main consumers of this equipment are Russian special services: Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, FSO, FSKN. Despite its youth, the Military Industrial Company has concluded at least 360 state contracts for approximately 17 billion rubles over the past three years. Looking only at this amount earned by Oleg Deripaska from the state budget, it becomes clear that those 7 billion investments invested by the “basic element” in the construction of the Imereta port for the Olympics are not so burdensome social burden for the businessman’s close power. (For comparison: AvtoVAZ in the coma in the coma during the same time, according to the Federal Register of State Contracts, earned almost six times less on supplies for state bodies.)

FSO

The “beloved” supplier of the Federal Security Service is New York Motors-Moscow. The company on the supply of Mercedes and Fords since 2007 has earned more than 450 million rubles. Over the past 2-3 years, the FSO has purchased 45 expensive Mercedes for about 261 million rubles. The most expensive was the purchase in February 2009 Mercedes-Benz S600L with special body protection for 27 million rubles.

Dear cars of other brands for the FSO is supplied by the Independence Group of Companies. It includes the firms of Auto Hans, AA Independence Premier Auto and ACM, which are the dealers of Volvo, Volkswagen and Audi. Recently, they earned about 155 million rubles from the FSO. 50.05% of “Independence” shares belong to the businessman Roman Tchaikovsky, the rest, according to Kommersant, was redeemed in 2008 by structures close to alpha groups, whose co-owner is Mikhail Friedman. Roman Tchaikovsky did not comment on the situation, the FSO press service also did not respond to the request of Novaya Gazeta.

FSB

The Federal Security Service over the past three years, according to the Federal Register of State Contracts, has purchased 25 expensive Mercedes for approximately 138 million rubles. 23 cars were set by New York Motors-Moscow and Panavto. The most expensive was the purchase in May 2009 Mercedes-Benz S-600L for 7.5 million. In addition, the FSB purchased 85 Nissanov for 86.5 million; 78 "Toyot" at 111 million; 82 "Volkswagen" for 109 million. The largest supplier of vehicles for the FSB is the "military-industrial company" Oleg Deripaska. She received 76 contracts for 1.8 billion. The Center for Public Relations of the FSB was ignored by our request.

Ministry of Internal Affairs

The Department of Public Relations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was informed that the Department of Own Safety (DSB) is currently “conducting an official verification of the facts of possible involvement of officials in the corruption activities of the car concerns (Daimler. - R.A.)”. We managed to find out that the ministry over the past three years purchased 28 Mercedes for about 101 million rubles. However, BMW remains the favorite road car of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the Federal Register of State Contracts, the ministry has recently purchased 145 cars of this brand for approximately 325.5 million rubles. There are about 3 million in the fleet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 5 expensive “Cadillac Escalade 6.2 V8), the price of each is approximately 3 million. Among your favorite suppliers, all the same New York Motors-Moscow (659 million), the Military-Industrial Company (5.3 billion). In the supply of domestic cars, not only large manufacturers, like AvtoVAZ, but also intermediary firms that earned hundreds of millions of rubles on state contracts. Why the ministry does not buy cars directly from manufacturers - it remains to guess.

General Prosecutor's Office

Probably the most modest department. In the federal register of state contracts, we managed to find only two Mercedes. In July 2009, Mercedes-Benz S500L4M was bought for 6.7 million, and in December 2009-Mersedes-Benz Viano 3.5 Amb/L for 2.6 million rubles. Nevertheless, one of the “favorite” suppliers for the General Prosecutor's Office remains “New York Motors-Moscow”, which concluded contracts for approximately 100 million rubles. Most of them concerned the supply of Ford cars.

SCP

Among the main suppliers of the Investigative Committee, the same New York Motors-Moscow, which received almost 700 million rubles from the UK. According to the Federal Register of State Contracts, recently the UKP has purchased 11 Mercedes for about 32 million rubles. Among the suppliers of the Investigative Committee there are individuals. In November 2009, a certain Aynda Madayev sold the SCP armored Mercedes-Benz S600L for just 2.2 million, although such vehicles in the FSO purchases cost at least 20 million. The SKP press service did not respond to the Novaya Gazeta request.
Presidential Affairs Management.

The adviser to the Presidential Management, Viktor Khrekov, told Novaya Gazeta that the department had never purchased Mercedes. The largest supplier of automotive equipment is the BMW Rusland Trading company, the official dealer of which - CJSC Azimut SP - acted as a winner at the announced competitions. We managed to find out that over the past 2-3 years, the management has purchased almost 400 expensive BMW for an amount exceeding 1 billion rubles. And all of them really purchased from Azimuth SP. Viktor Khrekov did not explain why this company has a monopoly right to ensure the Presidential Affairs Affairs fleet. (Among other clients "Azimuth SP" - FSB, FSO, FSKN.)

... In December 2009, a letter from Alexander Kolobkov, the former General of the Ford Ford dealers in Russia, came to the editorial office of some metropolitan newspapers, the former General Director of the Form Ford. Kolobkov said that he has exhausted all the possibilities to protect his business, and therefore turned to journalists for help. In the mid-90s, he took to his work of Konstantin Pogorelov, who was deprived then, according to Kolobkov, with the rank of lieutenant general from the Ministry of Defense. Further, according to Kolobkov, the general supposedly began to threaten him, in the 95th year he was kidnapped and beaten, then forced to leave the country and, in the end, selected the business. Konstantin Pogorelov and his son - Alexander - subsequently established by Azimuth SP and Autosage, which today also wins numerous contests. Kolobkov said that Konstantin Pogorelov, forcing him to leave the post of general director, put him in this place the son of his colleague, a certain Sergey Kvashnin.

In the late 90s, Sergey Kvashnin really held a position in the company F and X. Trading. Subsequently, according to commercial registers, Sergey Kvashnin, together with his father and son Pogorelov, established the company Avtoposage, Ital Motors and the very “Azimuth of SP”, which is currently the main supplier of BMW car for managing the Presidential Affairs. In 2005, Kvashnin became the general director of Veta, the first official dealer of Chinese cars in the Russian market. In an interview with the business press, he reported that the founders of VTA CJSC are the owners of Autoposage and Azimuth SP, that is, Alexander and Konstantin Pogorelov.

We sent an official request to Sergey Kvashnin, but he did not answer whether he and the Pogorelov family still have an attitude to Azimuth SP and so that this company manages to conclude large contracts with the management of the Presidential Affairs.