Rosoboronexport finds its double in British corporate register, to report it to London police
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Rosoboronexport has hired lawyers to achieve the exclusion of its double from the British corporate register.
According to Rosoboronexport's procurement materials, there is a London-based company, JSC Rosoboronexport Ltd, with registration number 10260688.
Rosoboronexport is ready to pay 2.2 million rubles for rendering a number of legal services, such as to prepare a press release saying that neither the company nor its managers have anything to do with the double, to acquire passport details of seven individuals named the double's directors, to prepare evidence of the case circumstances, and to file a statement on illegal actions of unidentified persons with the London police. Besides, the lawyers are tasked with filing a claim against the double, preparing to file a statement with Companies House, and representing the claimant in the processing of the appeal by the corporate register's operator.
According to Companies House, the double of the Russian arms exporter was registered in 2016. Its directors have same names as the then heads of Rosoboronexport. However, some birth dates differ from the actual ones: for instance, the register says that Vadim Vostokov was born in September 1960, while Rosoboronexport Deputy General Director Vostokov was born in 1962 (and died in July 2016).
Rosoboronexport is not the only Russian company experiencing such problems. JSC Transneft Ltd and PJSC Tatneft Ltd were registered in the same manner. Just like Rosoboronexport's double, they appeared in summer 2016. Tatneft and Transneft discovered their doubles soon enough, and both false companies were liquidated in 2017.
Rosoboronexport is the only Russian state exporter of the entire range of weapons and military and dual-use hardware. It is part of the Rostec state corporation. As of late 2018, Rosoboronexport's book of orders topped $51 billion, according to Rostec.
Rosoboronexport operates under Western sanctions.