Fake MTZ: Where Belarusian Workers’ Bonuses Were Spent

Every Belarusian should know what his honestly earned money was spent on.

The Belarusian Workers' Association (BOR) and the Belarusian People's Tribunal published an investigation into the situation at the Minsk Tractor Plant:

- Many of his employees went on strike a year ago, protesting against election fraud. But thanks to the timely dismissals of the unwanted, multiple fines, and the courts of all workers, all the workers were "silenced." I wonder if they will be humbled after our new investigation. Brace yourselves, businessmen, because even you have been cheated here. To be more exact - you have been robbed.

Minsk Tractor Plant

So, the Minsk Tractor Plant. The main sales market is, of course, Russia. But the dream of the Blue-fingered one is to capture the entire world market, therefore, factories are opening all over the world to facilitate the export of tractors to other countries. Therefore, according to the official website, assembly shops are open in as many as 25 cities from 14 countries. But we would not be Belarusians if we believed the official statistics and documents. Note that all information provided in the investigation is taken from open sources.

Let's take a closer look at these assembly plants. Is MTZ really such a promising state project as to throw out billions on its development? After all, millions of dollars are wasted annually for just one equipment upgrade. And not their own, but borrowed from the state. Yes, the main creditor of MTZ is the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus. Well, a few Chinese investors.

That is, a Belarusian state-owned enterprise takes a loan from the state for its own development. It practically sounds the same if the state borrowed from itself. In fact, for sure, all these borrowed funds are sent offshore. That is why the authorities react so sharply to the word "privatization." After all, they hear not at all what we mean.

And yet, let's get back to MTZ and its famous affiliates. Let us remind you that there are 22 of them at the moment. Each of them was opened so pathetically that this process can be equated with a separate public holiday. In Tajikistan, for example, Emomali Rahmon (President of Tajikistan) and the moon-faced himself opened in 2018.

Tractor parts are usually brought to the assembly plant, and tractors are assembled from them on the spot, like a Lego constructor, into a complete machine. Of course, some components are purchased locally, because they may be cheaper there, subject to transportation and other financial costs.

Assembly production means not only the assembly shop itself, but also warehouses, sales departments, and, of course, personnel training.

Thus, on the spot, they create quite a small enterprise for the production of tractors.

List of assembly shops of MTZ abroad. Taken from the official website of MTZ.

Such workshops are located in Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Venezuela, Cambodia, Pakistan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Moldova.

And why do they need so many productions in such a number of countries that are not the most successful for marketing? Because it is through them that it is easiest to steal, not to mention the fact that there are the lowest salaries in the world.

And now let's go on a small tour of the assembly plants of MTZ. Let us remind you that all the information used is taken from open sources, and, therefore, you can easily see everything for yourself. Let's start.

The first lot is an assembly plant in Cambodia, Belarus-Mekong LLC. Opened in March 2014, it assembles 512, 800, 820, and 892 models.

In New Belarus, the production scheme would look like this: from Belarus, we send spare parts to Cambodia, assemble the tractor on the spot, give it to the customer. In theory, the scheme has been worked out for seven years, and therefore, there should be no failures. Moreover, in March 2014, MTZ delivered tractor kits worth $ 5.5 million to Cambodia. The amount of the transaction for those times was so large that many media trumpeted it. In theory, everything works.

But, as elsewhere, there are nuances. While studying the tenders put up by MTZ, we came across one of the recent ones, for the supply of twelve tractors to Cambodia. But wait, why supply whole tractors, if there is a successful assembly shop on site, and it would be much cheaper to send the tractor not entirely, but as spare parts!

According to the terms of the tender, the contractor had to transport 12 tractors, 3 in a container. That is 4 containers. The total amount of the tender is $ 13,880. It was carried out by a certain LLC Cargotec.

Announcement of a tender for the transportation of tractors from MTZ.

Now let's do some math. One container is limited to 13 tons according to the same tender conditions. This is largely due to the weight and volume of the tractors. On average, the weight of one Belarus tractor reaches 4000 kilograms. Three tractors in a container are about 12,000 kilograms. That is, the total weight of the cargo is about 48,000. Sea containers are of two types: 20- and 40-foot. In the first case, the capacity by weight is 22,000 kilograms, in the second - 27,000. That is, our cargo, if the tractors were sent unassembled, would have to use not 4 containers but no more than two. And it would save about $ 7000.

Having searched through the documentation, we are likely to find many more such applications for the transportation of tractors. So we come to a logical conclusion: the assembly plant in Cambodia is fictitious. It is essentially a legal entity, which in the best case is a warehouse, from which the tractors are further transported to the customers. That is, in fact, the authorities took and stole a full-fledged factory from the people.

Registration of Belarus-Mekong JV

Now let's see who is the owner of that same plant. The company Belarus-Mekong was registered on February 11, 2014. Its founder and director from the beginning until 2018 was Volchok Vladimir Fedorovich. In parallel with this, since 2012, he was the general director of MTZ itself, and, in 2014, he was promoted and transferred to a position in the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, which violated Article 255 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus. Namely, "The head of a state organization... is prohibited from performing paid work on a part-time basis." It is also interesting that we found a message from BelTA that, on February 13, 2014, members of the Belarusian delegation, including the general director of the Minsk Tractor Plant Vladimir Volchok, took part in the official opening ceremony of a demonstration hall of Belarusian tractor equipment in Phnom Penh (Kingdom of Cambodia). Let us remind you that the Belarus-Mekong company was registered at the same time.

The opening of this plant took place (and this is no joke) with the blessing of five monks. The blessing was received by the Minister of Local Industry, he represented the Prime Minister. Belarus was represented by Makei, Deputy Minister of Industry, Svidersky, Belarusian Ambassador to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Sadokho, as well as the director of the Belarus-Mekong company, oh, that is. MTZ Vladimir Volchok.

Photos from the opening are, of course, interesting, but where is the plant itself? In fact, MTZ itself spent $ 416.3 thousand for the construction and another $ 2 million 310 thousand for the purchase of patents. That is a total of $ 2 million 726 thousand. This is exactly how much the plant in Cambodia cost the Belarusians. And now, attention, the plant itself:

That is, almost three million dollars were spent on what ?! To the warehouse, overpass, and that's it?

MTZ employs about 14,000 people. That is, based on the monthly wage, the management took away $ 170 from the workers. And this is only one plant out of 22.

And here is another production in same Cambodia. According to the official website, it is located at the address in Phnom Penh [No. 117Eo St. 126, Sk. Phsar Thmey II, Kh. Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia]. Makei went to open it. There are no photos of the plant in official sources, so let's turn to google maps.

MTZ assembly shop in Cambodia.

This is the same street along which containers with tractor sets were to be transported and tractors were to pass. A bit narrow, isn't it? Well, okay, maybe there is a helipad or underground tunnels designed specifically for MTZ.

MTZ assembly shop in Cambodia.

And again, the same street with a factory on it, but on the other side. And again, no factory.

Assembly shop at MTZ in Cambodia.

But this is the very address of the production. Whoever finds the plant, write in the comments. Perhaps unlikely, but maybe we did not notice something. For example, the platform 9 ¾.

But that's not all. Mekong Agriculture Tractor Co., Ltd. is located at the same address. This is a dealer, a service center, as well as a center for the purchase of spare parts for MTZ tractors in one business center, if you can call it that. It is in these small gates.

Now let's look at the legal address of the Belarus-Mekong company. What if the production is located there? After all, almost 3 million dollars were spent on something!

Hmm... and it's not here. Probably, the plant in Cambodia is very secret and is not on the maps, there is no information about it on the Internet, or it simply does not exist. Some kind of Atlantis!

But according to the documents, there is a meager supply of 15-30 tractors per year and no production.

Now let's do the math. In 2013, a total of 180 tractors were delivered to Cambodia. A $ 3 million plant was also opened, which de facto does not exist. There are only deliveries of 15-30 tractors per year.

A total of 267 tractor sets have been delivered to the "factory" in all that time. The last delivery was in January 2015.

A similar scheme for distributing finances among wallets probably works at other factories as well. So let's take a look at a couple more businesses.

For example, a plant in Pakistan. This is a fairly closed state. You cannot see the streets there, however, there are many photos on the net.

The Pakistani tractor manufacturing facility is located on the second floor of the Pakistani stadium hockey club in Karachi. Um... Now pay attention to the stadium itself:

The MTZ assembly shop in Pakistan.

Once again: ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE STADIUM!

Assembly shop of MTZ in Pakistan.

Here is the stadium itself outside. Yes, it's a hockey stadium. But not for the kind of hockey the usurper plays, but for field hockey.

And here is the second floor itself:

Assembly shop of MTZ in Pakistan.

This is probably where MTZ production is located.

As you may have guessed, MTZ has never opened a plant in Pakistan. Moreover, it has its own manufacturer, Orient Tractors, which buys 30 tractor sets per year. They also periodically sell our Belarus tractors through their own dealer. That is, MTZ itself has nothing to do with them.

MTZ also supplies over 2000 tractors per year to the Fecto group of companies. But this is not the merit of the MTZ management. This story began back in 1991 when Aliaksandr Shakutsin bought out half of this very Fecto through his own Amkodor. At one time, he even stated that he would create a conveyor belt for MTZ with the aim of supplying tractors to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. At that time, there were even corresponding agreements with the director of MTZ Fyodor Domotenko. In fact, they let the Orient Tractors produce 30 tractors per year from the supplied sets and left the sales of directly assembled equipment for themselves. But there are rumors that the Pakistani sales market for MTZ will soon be closed completely and irrevocably: the quality of Belarus tractors is much worse in comparison with their Chinese analogs, and prices are comparable and even higher.

So, MTZ is lying about its production abroad.

In Tajikistan, for example, not a single tractor or set has been delivered over the past 8 years. But at the same time, Agrotechservice, legally open and registered there, is assembling the 512th model. At the same time, there is their own company Madadi there, which sells 7 different models, not considering their modifications. Therefore, nobody needs MTZ with its Belarus tractors there.

Now let's do the math again. We remember about 22 production facilities abroad and the opening price of $ 3 million for each. It turns out that about $ 75 million was spent on fake factories. Given the number of employees at MTZ, it turns out that everyone could receive a one-time bonus of $ 4,687. Or $370 per month per person.

The main person responsible for the theft in this situation is the head of MTZ, Vitaly Vovk, who signs all supply contracts. It is he who signs the reports on where and for what money the tractor sets were sent to Pakistan to the same workshop on the second floor of the stadium.

He and other "good people" will certainly face an honest trial. We will continue to investigate cases of theft of state money because this is one of the main reasons for problems at enterprises: low wages, high injuries, and the disgusting condition of machine tools. And yes, sanctions have nothing to do with it.

P.S. By the way, tenders for the supply of tractor sets are made for a specific carrier. Pay attention to the document: "The period of activity in the maritime transport market is at least 5 years; the presence of at least 2 letters of recommendation (signed by the head of the enterprise or deputy head) of large state-owned enterprises of the Republic of Belarus; the presence of the company's net profit; sales proceeds are not less than USD 400,000." These conditions can be met by only four logisticians in the territory of the Republic of Belarus. All of them, oddly enough, are registered offshore.

In just over two years, MTZ paid these companies more than $ 7.5 million. Whose do you think they are?