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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 22/05/2026: Esperanto Music History, Suspicious Adoption of Signal, and Unauthorised LLM Slop in Code
Links for the day
Techrights and Tux Machines Subjected to Cyberattacks for Several Weeks
In the past I spoke to the cybercrime unit of British Police. Maybe it's time to do so again.
 
Links 22/05/2026: Inflation Fears and Thailand Tightens Visa Rules for Tourists From Dozens of Nations
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Speaks of This Week's Discussion With the EPO's Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Amid Mass Strikes
The Central Staff Committee's outline (prepared in a rush) or the "flash report"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 84 Out of 200: New Legislation Against SLAPPs on the Way (After We Reached Out to Ministers)
They dealt with the matter individually too, but we won't share this in public, at least not at this time
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXX - Where Was "The Ethics and Compliance Team" When the Family of EPO President Campinos Was Caught Doing Cocaine?
It remains to be seen if national delegates will tolerate this in future meetings
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 21, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, May 21, 2026
Links 21/05/2026: "Declining America" and Why Slop 'Code' is Made to Fail
Links for the day
The Register MS Has Become a 'Content' Farm Promoting Slop for Hostile Corporations
Now they call it "PARTNER CONTENT" - not "SPONSORED" - as if semantics make the difference
Latest Example of Widespread Fake Assertions (False News) About "Hey Hi"
The false narrative of "Hey Hi layoffs"
Links 21/05/2026: Facebook Rewarded With Tax Breaks to Destroy the Environment and Cause Global Warming, Shortages, Pollution; SpaceX (SPCX) Continues Losing Billions of Dollars
Links for the day
Codecs and Software Patents - Part VIII - GNU Audio/Video Team Has Chosen the AV1 Video Codec and It Explains Why (They've Researched Their Options)
AV1 video codec will be used to encode and share GNU videos online
Dr. Stallman Helps Establish Free Software Advocacy Outside the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as Well
The ideals or principles of Free Software needn't be centralised or monopolised; they can be federated
22 Years of Tux Machines and a Community Stronger Than Ever Before
We've already received some feedback from the community and improved it accordingly
Microsoft Under Investigation for Breaches of Law in the UK
Just like the Microsofters
More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way (June and July 2026)
with or without PIPs
LWN Sponsored by the Linux Foundation (Monopolies)
We must be able to casually point this out
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXIX - European Patent Office (EPO) Tells Staff "Speaking up" is Good, But Not When the "Brother-in-law" of EPO's President Does Cocaine
Do we still have a functioning democracy and potent press?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 20, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Gemini Links 21/05/2026: Immigration, Slop, and Slop 'Code' Suggestions Infesting Code Repositories
Links for the dayGemini Links 21/05/2026: Immigration, Slop, and Slop 'Code' Suggestions Infesting Code Repositories
GAFAM is Connected to Misogyny, Almost All Founders Divorced
They're not good people, even if they pay the media to pretend otherwise
SLAPP Censorship - Part 83 Out of 200: Religion is Still Alive, But for Many This Religion is Monetary (Greed, Monopolies, Corporate Power)
If all you keep boasting about is being able to afford a hotel room and some domestic flight, then maybe you have no real accomplishments and are more like a "Facebook serf" with a credit card
Oracle Seems to Have Popularised Overnight Layoffs, Now GAFAM Does the Same
layoff emails at 4 a.m. local time
A Lot of Fake News About Microsoft's LinkedIn Today, Some Comes From Slopfarms, Some Relies on Those Slopfarms
As usual, slopfarms make the Web a huge pile of garbage
IBM's Kyndryl is Circling Down the Drain, Say Kyndryl Insiders
"IBM Dinosaurs who were recycled and catapulted into the orange trash heap by IBM"
A Lot of Coverage Adding Hype Factor to Slop Bug Reports... is Made by LLM Slop
Local Privilege Escalation [...] the slop motivates some actual people to keep writing about it
Links 20/05/2026: Mass Layoffs at NPR (Bought by the Ballmers and Bill Epsteingate), Starbucks Korea CEO Fired Over ‘Tank Day’ Ad
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/05/2026: Advantage of CD Collections, Geminaut's View of Nostr, and SSL / TLS Certificates
Links for the day
IBM is Becoming a Pile of Expired Patents and Abandoned Buildings, Assets of Little Actual Value
Having laid off a ton of people, borrowed lots of money to fake growth (by acquisition), and sent some jobs to low-paid regions where innovation isn't done
Links 20/05/2026: Looting of Americans for "White Grievance Reparations Fund"; "Mark Zuckerberg Used Shell Companies to Bully Native Hawaiians"
Links for the day
Web Browsers Are for Rendering Web Page, They Shouldn't Become PDF Editors
Linus Torvalds is quickly learning and speaking about this
SLAPP Censorship - Part 82 Out of 200: British Government Intervenes in the SLAPPs by Brett Wilson LLP
At this stage our matters are dealt with by a layer below that of the Prime Minister (adjacent to it)
LinkedIn Communications Reveal That LinkedIn - Like GitHub - Will Vanish Inside the Belly of Microsoft
This is definitely going to happen.
In Wall Street, Financial Difficulties Drive Shares Up
Wall Street doesn't work that way
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVIII - European Patent Office (EPO) Guidebook Says Report Crimes Committed on EPO Premises. Some Did, But President Campinos Covers up for the Culprits.
The staff has long been on strike and the union (SUEPO) organised an enhanced day of action just two days ago
Gemini Links 20/05/2026: Fall of an Empire, "High Tech is a Social Exercise", and Big Cameras
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 19, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 19, 2026