Bonum Certa Men Certa

From Belarus With Love — Part IV: “Software from Minsk” via Gilching and Rijswijk

Series parts:

  1. From Belarus With Love — Part I: Schizophrenic EPO Policy
  2. From Belarus With Love — Part II: “Techwashing” an Autocratic Regime?
  3. told
  4. YOU ARE HERE“Software from Minsk” via Gilching and Rijswijk


Organisational structure of SaM Group
The organisational structure of the SaM group.



Summary: The story of how EPO 'hooked up' with Belarus (Team Battistelli arranged for contracts through shadowy proxies), later resulting in the illegal outsourcing of EPO operations to Microsoft, which relies on a lot of corruption going unnoticed and/or unpunished

As we mentioned in the opening article of this series, SaM stands for "Software aus Minsk", a German moniker meaning "Software from Minsk".

But as one of the company's founders, Andrej Bakhirev, told Wirtschaftswoche back in 2011:



"It's important to our customers that they work with a German company rather than a Belarusian one."


Management of SaM Group
The management of the SaM group led by Chairman Andrei Bakhirev and CEO Pavel Khovrenkov.



"Despite being officially headquartered in Gilching in Bavaria most of the company's employees actually work at the company's main "delivery center", located at 15 Filimonova Street in Minsk, close to the Belarus High Technologies Park (HTP)."So it is not surprising that the "corporate headquarters" of the SaM group is in Gilching, a provincial Bavarian village, located within the functional urban area of Munich.

The current address of the company's HQ is listed on its website as Römerstrasse 32 in Gilching.

According to the company register in Germany, SaM Holding GmbH was previously registered under the number HRB 118260 with the following address:

Am Bahnhof 4a, 82205 München - West (Gilching).


Gilching's SaM group
The corporate HQ of the SaM group used to be located in a building beside the train station in Gilching, near the Bavarian capital Munich. The HQ recently relocated to a new address in Gilching at Römerstrasse 32.



Despite being officially headquartered in Gilching in Bavaria most of the company's employees actually work at the company's main "delivery center", located at 15 Filimonova Street in Minsk, close to the Belarus High Technologies Park (HTP).

SaM Solutions in Minsk
SaM Solutions "delivery center" at 15 Filimonova Street in Minsk.



Although SaM's "delivery center" is not directly located on the grounds of the HTP, the company has been registered as a "HTP resident" since 2006 and consequently it benefits from the HTP's special "exterritorial" tax regime.

"Although SaM's "delivery center" is not directly located on the grounds of the HTP, the company has been registered as a "HTP resident" since 2006 and consequently it benefits from the HTP's special "exterritorial" tax regime."Because the EPO's core in-house data processing facilities are mostly located in its Netherlands branch office in Rijswijk, SaM's Dutch subsidiary - SaM Solutions BV - has played a key role in the group's EPO-related business.

As far as is known, project manager responsible for this area of SaM's activities is a guy by the name of Alexander Khval.

Alexander Khval
Alexander Khval, reputed to be the project manager responsible for SaM's EPO-related activities in the Netherlands



According to the company register in the Netherlands SaM Solutions BV is registered under the number 34350956 with an address at Pauwhof 135 in a residential area of the municipality of Rijswijk, adjacent to the Hague. Postcode: 2289 BL

SaM's Dutch subsidiary
SaM's Dutch subsidiary is located at Pauwhof 135 in a residential area of Rijswijk.



SaM Solutions has been a certified Microsoft partner since 2002 and more recently it has been heavily involved in promoting cloud-based "solutions". It is rumoured to have played a key role in the EPO's recent controversial "cloud migration" project overseen by Vice-President Steve Rowan.

SaM Solutions as Microsoft partner
SaM Solutions has been a certified Microsoft partner since 2002 and is rumoured to have played a key role in the EPO's recent controversial "cloud migration" project.



In the next part, we shall see how the founders of the SaM group received significant assistance from Germany during the company's start-up phase.

Belarus and EPO
Belarus and EPO: Not as distanced as António Campinos wants you to believe... and possibly a conduit of Microsoft corruption/illegal activities in Europe



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